


The Curious and the Shiny: New Game Plus

by NebulaDreams



Series: The Manifold Curiosity [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Mystery, Original Character-centric, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 00:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 142,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16800376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NebulaDreams/pseuds/NebulaDreams
Summary: Two old friends, a Luxray and Lucario, reunite after five years, but broken friendships aren't easily mended. Ghosts of their past haunt them in the form of a mysterious organization, GeL. In their journey to repair their relationship, they face their repressed memories, meet new allies, and teach themselves and others to bridge the gap between Pokémon and mankind. (CURRENTLY BEING REVISED, SO PLEASE CHECK LATER FOR A MORE POLISHED FIRST ARC)





	1. Dendemille's Dilemma

The sunlit gravel burned all that walked across it, yet the Luxray dashed through. Even as his paws blistered from the bare dirt and his wounds burned with the intense heat in the air, he had to. His sensitive ears picked up the footsteps of his pursuers, chasing from behind.  
  
He ran towards the cityscapes ahead of him, where humans awaited, along with the promise of relief from his injuries, and afterwards, a normal life. Behind, though, was them. He didn’t want to imagine what they had in store for him if they caught him.  
  
The more he ran, the more he wheezed with exhaustion, and by the time he reached the junction where the roads from the other cities converged, he stopped to catch his breath. Cars, vehicles, trucks, all honked in cacophony. And in them, humans. He ran alongside the asphalt, shouting to anyone that might’ve listened as he ran. Surely, one person must’ve seen his condition and stopped to help, but nobody did. They blitzed through the road, which even he couldn’t catch up with in his faltering condition. Why did nobody notice him? His heart pumped. How far behind were those grunts?  
  
In desperation, he flung himself into the highway, into the path of oncoming cars which swerved in different directions and blared furiously. Sense came back long enough for the Luxray to dodge out of the way out of the road, only for another car to come hurtling towards his way, and crashed into his side, sending him spinning towards the hot asphalt before rolling on his back. He groaned as dull pain spread through his stomach, as he tried to get a sense of how bad his injuries were. Then it struck him. He was about to die. There were so many questions, so many injustices left, and so many dreams waiting to be realised, all of which would be undone. He only hoped anyone listening might’ve heard his last words.  
  
“ _P-please,”_ he croaked in human tongue, _“I, I wanna l-live. P-please, h-help.”_  
  
With the sun shining above him, his vision faded to black.

* * *

The Chase Arc

_ Chapter 1. Dendemille's Dilemma _

  
Shine woke up with the memory of his escape five years ago burning in his head. He squinted as light from the windows danced on his face, stirring him from his slumber, and for a while, he stayed there, curling himself in a ball at the end of the bed, just for a moment longer. Only for a moment though, as a familiar hand patted Shine’s belly, firmly, but softly, across his scar where the car had hit him.  
  
“C’mon Shine,” his trainer Tony said. “We should get ready soon.”  
  
The Luxray only groaned, retreating further into his half-sleep. Each day usually started like this, which was always for hardest for him as he preferred to sleep in. Why wake up? The days were the same and the world moved around Shine while he lay dormant. Why bother? No matter how much he tried to delay those thoughts with distractions, those fractured memories wouldn’t leave him alone. What was the point? The only thing that brought him back into the world was the feel of his trainer’s hand, soft and firm, stroking at his side.  
  
“I woke up a little earlier than usual so I’m willing to give you a wash, since it’s been a bit long. Would you like that?”  
  
Though it was just another part of his routine at that point, it was hard to say no to Tony’s soothing voice. So he opened his remaining eye, stretched on the bedspread and followed Tony, who was already dressed in his anti-static gear, into the bathroom where he sat down on the smooth floor and allowed his trainer to rinse him off with the shower, taking extra care to suppress his electric field. As he waited, the question burned on Shine’s lips, and although he didn’t wish to complain to his trainer, who had worked so hard on their project in between shifts, he had to ask.  
  
“ _Sorry to bring this up again,”_ Shine said in his human tongue, _“But are you planning on going back to the documentary at some point?_ ”  
  
Tony grunted as he squirted pet shampoo onto Shine’s body with gloved hands. When Shine first met him, he remembered his speech skills took Tony by surprise, but after living together for so long, his trainer got used to his special talent.  
  
“To be honest, I really don’t know. I want to work on it, sure, but there’s not much else we can do. We only know partly about what happened to you, we don’t know where your friends have gone, or who was even responsible for the takeover in the first place. I’ve looked in the papers, in the libraries, everywhere, but can’t find any more info on the facility than what you’ve given me. I’m really sorry, but that’s all I can say for now.”  
  
He sighed. As much as it frustrated him, they had found no leads at all, even after months of sifting through all the contacts, as there was no other trace of the GeL project’s existence anywhere. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, or perhaps a less-cliched human idiom to the same effect.  
  
“ _I see. Again, I’m sorry if I’m being a pain.”_  
  
“Don’t be silly, Shine. If I wasn’t interested, I never would’ve started this documentary business in the first place. You’re doing fine. Personally, I’d just sit on it for a few days and come back later, we both deserve a bit of a break from it.”  
  
Shine winced as a wooden brush combed through his thick fur.  
  
“Maybe you could pass on your special skills to another Pokemon looking to connect with their trainers, if it’d help take your mind off things.”  
  
“ _Perhaps.”_ He had quite a bit of fun teaching Bobby arithmetic and parts of the human tongue, as he learned during his first year at GeL, but aside from that, he found little motivation to teach every Pokemon in Ambrette that language. There were only a few that had similar skills to him, and they usually had business somewhere else.  
  
“Or maybe, you could get yourself a treat, like a turnover or another good book to read. I don’t mind spoiling you if that’s what you want.”  
  
“ _Thanks, but the library’s enough for me. Besides, I don’t want to sponge off of you too much, if that’s what they call it.”_  
  
Tony chuckled as he turned the water off and patted Shine dry with the towel. “I really don’t mind. Look at me though, Shine.”  
  
He obliged and looked into his trainer’s eyes, which visibly smiled even though he couldn’t see the mouth through that electric-resistant mask.  
  
“You’ve got to enjoy yourself more. You’re here where it’s peaceful, and you have freedoms that a lot of Pokemon wouldn’t dream of having without your skills. Why not make the most of it?”  
  
A pang of guilt nestled in Shine’s gut. As much as he wanted to keep up with Tony’s boundless energy, he always found himself lagging behind. There were still the memories that revisited him, some good, but buried by the rest. The eye. The arm. The smell of burning fur. The taste of oxidation. The screams. The broken dreams. But he was free from that now. At least, he hoped so. His eye moistened as those fragments of time resurfaced, and Tony embraced him, hugging him tight through that suit. It felt strangely comforting even as the rubber stuck to Shine’s coat.  
  
“It’s alright, it’s alright. You don’t need to worry anymore.”  
  
“ _I-I know,”_ Shine said through his sniffles. _“I-I’ll try to en-enjoy today. T-thanks.”_  
  
After Tony dried him off, the two made small talk over a breakfast of Tepig rashers about the things Tony experienced on his marine trips, including taking a selfie with a Mantine, which temporarily made Shine forget about his worries. After his trainer waved goodbye to head for work, though, the house was silent once more. Shine laid down on the couch for a minute, staring at the clock that ticked constantly, and sighed.  
  
There were so many hours left in the day, yet he was still waiting for it to pass. He had to get out of there, even if it was temporary, and so, Shine walked through his door flap out of the apartment complex and into the sunlit streets of Ambrette Town. His collar jingled proudly as he padded along the pavement. The townsfolk passed, nonplussed to the Luxray's presence, with some familiar, yet nameless faces greeting Shine, alongside their Pokemon that stared on with passing interest, while he looked straight on and made his way to the library.  
  
His presence there was welcomed by the members of staff, who had gotten used to the prospect of a visiting Luxray at that point, and attended to his needs, retrieving a fantasy book for him to sink his teeth into and newspapers for him to leaf through. He took those in his maw and laid them out in the garden in the shady spot underneath a tree.  
  
There, he read under the cool spot, and moments later, a Murkrow appeared, fluttering towards him before perching on a bit of tree bark. Her name was Bauble, and she wore a red string anklet above her foot, which she shook proudly to Shine.  
  
“Why Shine!” she cawed, wiggling her three toes, “Someone tied this for me! Do you like it?”  
  
“Yes,” he said with a smile, “It suits you.”  
  
“And so does your collar!” It didn’t take long for her to stick her beak into Shine’s neck, fiddling about with the red accessory Tony had given him. “I bet it’ll look great in my collection!”  
  
He shook his head, almost whipping Bauble in the face with his mane in an effort to get her off.  
  
“You’re not stealing this again. You don’t just take from other people.”  
  
“Sure I do!” she said with a grin below her beak, “But anyway, you know what I came for, so let’s get to it!”  
  
He hummed a reply and the two nuzzled close to each other. Shine got his paws on the Regional Roundup first, as Bauble liked to hear about events happening within Kalos, particularly those that centred around Pokemon related affairs. When Shine read on his own, he would read about a variety of topics, from book reviews to political features, but mainly, because there was some hope left he would find out more about the GeL project from there, or the whereabouts of the remaining subjects. However, once when he attempted to read a piece about Kalos’ national debt, Bauble flew off in a huff, so whenever they were together, Shine made sure to read on her interest level.  
  
“Whozzat?"  
  
There was a picture of a Machoke holding up a championship belt triumphantly. Although he had no interest in sports, Shine knew him as Rex Revolver. On the top however, was the headline 'REX RETIRES!' with the caption 'Consecutive four year Machampion calls it quits!'  
  
"He seems pretty satisfied!" Bauble said.  
  
"He's quitting."  
  
"Aw. Well that sucks."  
  
"Do you want me to read on?"  
  
"Eh, don't care for sports."  
  
Having said that, Bauble still had her biases. They continued on, flicking from page to page. The next article of interest had a picture of camera footage, with a group of Scraggy and Scrafty crowding around something in the middle. Shine read out the headings.  
  
"Scraggy Syndrome - Should we arrest criminal Pokémon?"  
  
Bauble crowed in anger.  
  
"That's the stupidest thing I've heard in a while! Why don’t they just let us be! Do humans really get paid to write this crap?”  
  
"Yes, depending on whether or not they're freelance, they can either get paid for each article they write or..." Shine trailed off, realising that he was going off a tangent. It was pointless to explain to someone of Bauble’s fleeting interest all the intricacies of the judicial system, and how there was essentially none for Pokemon, allowing the police or trainers to take matters into their own hands, for better or for worse.  
  
"I don’t really have a good answer for that."  
  
"They shouldn't be paid at all if you ask me!"  
  
Shine brushed aside her comment and continued looking.  
  
"Oh, Shine!" Bauble said. "When can I see your film?"  
  
“Probably never at this rate,” he said, not taking his eye off the paper.  
  
"What?" Bauble screeched, "Why not? Do you hate me?"  
  
"Trust me, it has nothing to do with that. We've worked on it a lot, but doesn't look like we have the right angle for it yet."  
  
"Can't I take one little peek at it?"  
  
"It's not up to me, I'm afraid. It's mostly Tony's project, since he's the one putting it all together."  
  
"Forget Tony! Why not do it when he's out?"  
  
Shine sighed. Perhaps he shouldn’t have let it slip to a random Pokemon that frequently tried to steal from him. But she already expressed interest in their project, so it was too late to say no at that point.  
  
“I’ll consider it.”  
  
Bauble pouted and turned her head dismissively.  
  
“Whatever. Continue.”  
  
“A Future Without Cars - Gogoat leads to less congestion, study finds.”  
  
“Boring,” Bauble said. “Slow news day, isn’t it?”  
  
“A little,” Shine muttered.  
  
When Shine turned the next page, the photo sent a chill through Shine’s spine. The picture, taking up half the page, featured a night-time scene of a Lucario throwing a punch at a gathering of shadows, where the most important detail was their left arm. The arm they used to punch with wasn’t the same length as the other, had five fingers instead of three paws, and shone like a jewel underneath the street-lamps. Shine's heart leapt in his chest. He brought himself as close to the photo as possible, checking the details of the arm multiple times to see if it really was like that Lucario’s, and more after that, trying to prove himself wrong. But after the seventh time, there was no doubt about it. The Lucario in that picture had an artificial arm.  
  
The Lucario in that picture was none other than one of the old subjects of GeL: Curio.  
  
“T-that’s her!" he exclaimed.  
  
“Whozzer?” Bauble shrieked. “Read the darn paper, why don’t ya? It’s the only interestin’ thing here so far!”  
  
Shine almost leapt from his spot. All he wanted was to run to Tony’s workplace and tell him they had a lead, but when he thought about the context behind the photo, he anchored himself down and read through the article.  
  
“A Lucario was spotted at night battling against the gang of Pokemon, believed to be known as the ‘Thousand Claws’, who have terrorised Dendemille Town ever since their arrival, with burglaries and reported kidnappings of other Pokemon. The altercation lasted only a minute as they dispersed when the police came. So far, the details of the Lucario are elusive, but as they have speech skills similar to that of humans, they are wanted for questioning by the force, as they’re believed to be a part of the rogue criminals.”  
  
Shine’s eye widened upon reading that last sentence.  
  
“Bless the white god’s tail!”  
  
Shine ignored Bauble’s cries of protest as he stuffed the newspaper in his mouth and made a beeline for the library’s exit, dashing off further into town where the coast was to Tony's workplace. He didn't care how fast he went or whether or not he accidentally bumped into things on his way.  
  
He didn't even slow down when he reached the cliff-side, going only by inertia and almost fell off the edge, kicking a few pebbles off the cliff face in the process, but staggered back to his feet and carried on his route.  
  
Eventually, Shine reached the coast where the main part of Ambrette Town sat, rushed past the aquarium over to the neighbouring Marine Conservation Centre, and charged through the entrance into the reception. He remembered where Tony's office was, which was by his right, and without thinking, ran towards the direction of the door.  
  
“Hey hey hey!” an unfamiliar voice of an old man called. “What do you think you’re doing here?!”  
  
Shine spat the newspaper out. _“Sorry, my trainer’s in there, I have to speak to him!”_  
  
Shine balanced himself on his hindpaws to pull the handle down, but when he did, the door wouldn’t open. It was locked. Shine glanced at the old man who was practically white with confusion, mumbling to the other person at the desk who Shine knew as Ines, the communications head. No interaction with her ended in a friendly conversation, but regardless, Shine thought it best to explain his situation to someone familiar with Tony. He padded over to the desk, balancing on his tip-toes and making eye-contact with Ines, who shot him a glare that could’ve frozen the air around them.”  
  
“Shine, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”  
  
“ _Please miss Ines, let me explain myself, I need to--”_  
  
“Everyone in there, including Tony, is busy taking care of something important, and we’re trying to bluff our way out of a PR disaster. They can’t have anybody else coming in no matter what for the whole day.”  
  
“ _But--”_  
  
She retracted a Pokeball from her belt and held it towards Shine.  
  
“I said you can’t come in no matter what. If you don’t leave, you’ll have to answer to Tundremie.”  
  
Even for Ines, this was rather cold for her. Each time Shine wanted to visit Tony on-break, she often refused to let him in unless either of them gave notice, but there, she turned him down instantly. Her treatment always seemed unfair to him, and she seemed to have a bias against Pokemon in general, but he understood Tony had to deal with delicate situations if a rescued Pokemon ever went into surgery, and besides, dealing with her Aurorus was another issue entirely. Despite the burning sensation in his paws, he took a deep breath and relaxed his stance.  
  
“ _Can you at least pass a message to him, please?”_  
  
She lowered her Pokeball but didn’t change her glacial expression otherwise.  
  
“Make it quick.”  
  
Shine rushed over to where he dropped the newspaper and picked it back up, propping it onto Ines’ desk.  
  
“ _Tell him to read page twelve.”_  
  
“I’ll see if I have time to, now please, we’ve got calls to make here.” Her expression softened, letting her guard down for just a moment. “Sorry.”  
  
He walked out of the centre with pent-up energy surging through him. When the beach came in sight, he took off towards it and vented his frustrations through his run, kicking sand everywhere he went and tasting the burn of the seaweed nearby.  
  
After five years of waiting and not knowing anyone’s whereabouts, something had surfaced from the ashes, but the most burning question, amongst many others was what happened to force the two to separate in the first place. He slowed down his pace to a brisk walk as the realization dawned on him. What was that Sinnohan Pokemon doing in Dendemille, or getting involved with dangerous Pokemon for that matter? Was she docile or was she a threat? And even more than that, trying to get his answers meant he would have to cross half the region to get to that town, which was easier said than done.  
  
He could’ve ran all the way through the wild, leaving him to face the indifferent wildlife all on his own, and Curio might not’ve been there by the time he arrived, if he lived through that. Going by train would save a lot of time, but it would’ve been much faster to rent a flying Pokemon. Not even the fastest trains in the world held a candle to a Dragonite; if he could find a ranch that owned one, it would’ve taken an hour to get to Dendemille. The only issue was cost.  
  
Pokemon could hop on buses and trains for free as long as it wasn’t during peak hours and fitted the size and weight limit, but transport by flying Pokemon was a different matter entirely. The handlers were the ones in charge, and their services to pilot the Pokemon required payment just like any other human selling goods. The faster the Pokemon, the more their fliers were likely to charge. He wasn’t sure how much it was for a Dragonite exactly, but probably a lot. He thought about putting his plan into fruition, but when he took the time to consider it, he stopped in his tracks.  
  
Doing all of that meant he would have to venture on his own accord, without Tony’s help or anyone else in Ambrette town that knew him. Having stayed with his trainer for so long in the comfort of his abode, he was at a loss for himself, and since he was so busy at that moment, he couldn’t run his plans through him first. And so, Shine slowly padded back to the apartment, tail dragging on the ground beneath him, and even as he stepped through the flap, his mind was in a muddle.  
  
His stomach rumbled as it approached noon. It would probably be good to grab some lunch, and as he headed towards the kitchen, the window above the sink tapped. Bauble came flying in through the open slit, which she often did whenever they didn’t meet straight at the library.  
  
“Care to tell me why you dashed off like that?” she cawed, her beak pointed downwards.  
  
“Oh, sorry,” Shine said. “Something came up, so I want to head to Dendemille later.”  
  
"What? How in the world are you gonna get there?"  
  
"I don’t know yet. At the moment, I’m not even sure if it’s worth it yet, unless the trip is quick."  
  
"And what’re you thinkin’?"  
  
"Well, do you know if there’s a ranch nearby that takes care of Dragonite?"  
  
"Hmm," Bauble said, turning her head away. "There might be. But. But-but-but." She looked at Shine with a cunning smile. "What would you give me in return if I did know there was one? Perhaps, your collar?"  
  
"Excuse me?" Shine sputtered. "What is your obsession with my collar?"  
  
"Oh nothing, it just looks so nice! Besides, I think I deserve something for being abandoned."  
  
“My collar is--” He paused. Bauble had asked for his collar since she met him, which got tiring. Tony had given it to him as a present when he got his trainer license, which was why he’d been reluctant for her to snatch it off him. If he gave it up, that would mean betraying him. Then it dawned on him that was the reason he had been so reluctant to travel in the first place. Since time was of the essence at that point, Shine steeled his resolve. It was time to tear off the band-aid. He hesitated before he lifted his neck up for the intruding Murkrow.  
  
“Fine. Come and get it, then.”  
  
Bauble flew to the back of Shine’s neck to unclasp his collar and ran her beak through his fur, which tickled a little, but within seconds, the collar released and Bauble held what was Tony’s memento in her mouth. Seeing how pleased Bauble was with her prize, Shine felt a knot of guilt tie itself in his stomach. Nevertheless, his goal was more important than keeping himself leashed to some sort of tradition.  
  
"Are there Dragonite, Bauble?"  
  
"Why yeth, there are," she said, slightly muffled by what she was holding. "You haff money for that, yeth?"  
  
"I'll sort that out in a minute. If you don't mind, can you wait outside for me while I get the cash?"  
  
"Cointh?" Shine anticipated she would ask about that, as if she imagined there was a vault in the flat that had a pool of solid gold she could gawk at.  
  
"Bills.”  
  
"Aw."  
  
As soon as Bauble hopped out of the door with the collar, Shine’s eye flickered gold, which turned on his special vision to find the safe in Tony's bedroom closet.  
  
Tony was the one that taught Shine how to use money in the real world. While his days in the facility gave him the knowledge of basic arithmetic earlier on, to even differential equations in his later years, currency was alien to him in such a closed-off environment. Not long after the two officially partnered up, Tony shared the code to his safe, as he trusted Shine to only use it for emergencies. He hadn't needed to use it in the two years he stayed in Tony's flat. This, however, was an emergency. A largely personal emergency, but an emergency nonetheless.  
  
Unfortunately, the safe wasn't Pokémon friendly, as the code could only be punched in on a small keypad. He had to type in the code with his muzzle, which took a few tries but once he entered the right combination, it opened with a satisfying click, revealing the vast amounts of money inside. He gasped at the sight of it, which held seemingly endless stacks of paper, but he would only take what he needed however. The price of the Dragonite, he didn't know, but if he had to guess, it would be around 20000 Pokedollars, so he took ten 2000 bills out and after counting it twice over with his paws, Shine locked the safe door shut.  
  
Travelling to the middle of nowhere with a loose stash of bills in his mouth was undesirable, especially as a Pokémon, so Shine searched in Tony's drawers for a little bag he could bundle them in. He found a small drawstring bag, stuffed the bills in it, then placed it in his mouth. Now he was ready to go.  
  
As he made his way to the door, however, Shine realised what he was about to do: fly half the region to see someone that might not even be there and hadn’t met in half his life. As unsure as he was though, he needed answers to unlock his past, and if Curio’s reappearance helped him retrieve those again, it would’ve been worth it.  
  
But something still nagged at him, as he also realised how much it would worry Tony to travel for a few days unannounced, so he backtracked to Tony's bedroom and got out a pen and a pad. Gripping the pen with his mouth, Shine wrote as best as he could on the lined paper.  
  
_'Looking for a Lucario. Will be back in a few days - S.'_  
  
With that, Shine picked the money-bag back up and left the flat.  
  
Bauble had waited on the railing, absent-mindedly staring out into the noon sky, and when Shine came back, she took the drawstring bag in her talons and wrapped it around Shine’s neck, which he supposed was an adequate enough replacement for the collar.  
  
She glided over to the road at the other end of the block, leaving Shine to follow her, and when they got close enough, she flew off again, gliding into the distance up the main street, and although it took some time for each other to find their rhythm, once the two knew each other's patterns of movement, Bauble no longer had to wait for Shine to catch up as he ran after her. They went further up the road, reached the outskirts of Ambrette towards the more mountainous areas of land where the ground got more bumpy, and to a path that sat outside of the forest of Route 9.  
  
Travelling through the dappled path, with the open space in front of him and the quiet rustling of the leaves overhead gave him time to reflect, making him remember something before he dashed off to Tony.  
  
“I think I might’ve stolen that library’s newspaper.”  
  
“Yeah, so?” Bauble cawed. “It’s just paper.”  
  
“I suppose.”  
  
They continued their trek in silence, and when the two arrived, Shine saw the most dragons he had ever seen in one area. When he first heard of the ranches, he didn't know what to expect with how it was organised, however, what he saw was separated by a fence was an open field, as the dragon types and dragon-looking Pokemon freely flew around the area and ran through the shallow grass. There were Charizard, Dragonite, Salamence, Goodra and all the like, but as well as that, their young accompanied them in their previous evolutions. While most species kept within their own circles, there were a few that freely mingled with others scattered across.  
  
Plenty of humans operated the field as well. Some tended to their own Pokémon by feeding them, playing with them or resting by them, and others worked in the farmland area separate from the Pokémon area. There was so much happening at once there, Shine didn't know where to start. It made him feel dizzy looking at it, trying to keep a track of all the activity there and turning his head back and forth to where his blindside couldn't see.  
  
It was kind of similar to how the facility functioned during its golden age, except outdoors and less densely packed. He supposed some things never changed.  
  
He remembered what he came there for however, and padded over to the closest barn on the path, with Bauble hopping alongside him on the fence. When he reached the entrance, Shine was greeted by a woman dressed head to toe in flight gear, who drew her hand close to her belt, seemingly cautious of the two that approached her.  
  
"If you've come here to steal our crops, beat it," she said.  
  
Shine gulped as he mustered up the confidence to speak.  
  
_"Um, I need a ride to Dendemille Town as quickly as possible, please."_ To complete the request, he bowed politely to her. The woman took off her visor, not taken completely off guard but still revealing her surprise as she arched an eyebrow.  
  
"Well I'll be. Did that Murkrow bring you here?"  
  
Shine nodded, and the woman gave him a pointed look.  
  
"Well I must apologise. I don't know what she told you, but we don't make no exceptions for Pokémon. Even you have to pay."  
  
_"No problem. I'm looking to buy a Dragonite."_  
  
Upon hearing this, the lady chortled, holding her fist in front of her hand to stifle herself.  
  
"A Dragonite? Good one! Where in Arceus' crack did you find that much money to buy one?"  
  
_"It’s hanging by my neck."_  
  
The woman laughed again, slapping her knee.  
  
"Naw, naw, I apologise, I believe ya. Forgive me for bein’ so rude." She took a deep breath and presented her gloved hand to him.  
  
"Name's Adele. Pleasure to do business with ya. What's yours?"  
  
_"Shine.”_  
  
"Cool! If you'll follow me to the field, I'll walk you through what we have."  
  
Adele jumped over the fence. Before Shine could follow, he winced as Bauble's beak tugged at his fur.  
  
"Yeah, I'm kind of banned here, so I'll take my leave now. I hope whatever you're doing in Dendemille works out for you."  
  
Shine partly wondered what she did to earn such ire from the rancher, but he smiled anyway and bowed to his sticky-beaked helper.  
  
"Thanks. Enjoy your collar."  
  
"Will do!" Bauble gave an appreciative chirp and swooped up in the air, disappearing past the trees.  
  
Shine crawled under the fence and caught up with Adele as they weaved through the field. Already, he sensed the attention he was getting from a group of Charmander nearby who all stared at him and talked amongst themselves from a distance. As he couldn’t hear them, he brushed it aside.  
  
"If you don't mind me asking," Adele said, "Where'd you learn to speak so well?"  
  
_"Through a caring enough trainer and lots of practice,"_ Shine said, which was half true.  
  
"You don't say. All things considered, you speak much better than half of my workers on the farm!"  
  
_"I wouldn't say that."_  
  
"Don't humble yourself. Actually, we've tried our hand at teaching our Pokémon here to speak, and it ain't easy, let me tell you. We've had problems finding other Pokémon that speak like us for the job, so we do it ourselves, and some of them can carry conversations, but they've still got a helluva way to go. Others though, they have no focus for it whatsoever. I can't even get one peep out of them before they fly off!"  
  
Shine couldn't help but laugh, thinking back to how often he stumbled in the language tests at first.  
  
_"It is always the hardest trying to get the first word out, after all. If it's not in their nature, leave them be."_  
  
"I don't know, we've been surprised before. Still, a Pokémon such as yourself is somewhat of a rarity around these parts. It's hard to—"  
  
She paused as a glob of green slime splashed over her glasses from her left side, which came from a Goodra who waved at Adele with a slimy paw. She chortled as she wiped off the gunk and approached the dragon.  
  
_"Hell-o A-dell,"_ the Goodra pronounced carefully in the human tongue.  
  
"Good to see you too, Petri." She welcomed the Goodra with open arms and didn't hesitate to hug Petri as he coated her with more slime.  
  
"How's the lessons coming along?"  
  
_"Slow and a-nnoy-ing. But not bad."_  
  
_"It'll get better,"_ Shine chimed in, bringing Petri's attention to him. _"I found it hard to string together words as well."_  
  
Petri gasped, clutching his chest with his paw. _"A new tea-cher?"_  
  
"Nope," Adele said, "Just a visitor of ours."  
  
_"O-K."_ Petri gave a disappointed smile.  
  
"Sorry, we gotta go Petri. I'll come back in a bit. See you then!"  
  
Adele waved to Petri which he returned, and also waved in Shine's direction. He nodded before catching up with Adele, who was still covered in slime.  
  
_"Does that come off easily?"_ Shine said.  
  
"Depends. You hardly notice it after a while."  
  
Perhaps it was easier for humans to get slime off their clothes, but he winced at the thought of getting it stuck in his fur.  
  
The two reached the part of the field where the Dragonite congregated, a group of five who were all huddled around each other.  
  
"Attention!" she shouted, and the Dragonite all turned to face her. She counted them all with her finger, then pointed to a blank space.  
  
"Lyra.” The Dragonite on the far left took a step forward. "Would you be so kind to fetch Accendare, please?"  
  
They nodded. Shine couldn't even see them flap their wings before he had to shield himself from the gust of wind, and when he opened his eye, Lyra was nowhere to be seen in the sky. After a moment, he saw the two approaching from the air and flinched upon their landing as the ground rumbled, getting a crowd of laughter from the Dragonite already on land. Once he recovered, he eyed Accendare, whose ribs stuck out slightly and seemed smaller compared to the rest, with the addition of a Postmon’s pager around their ankle. They looked off into the distance with their arms crossed.  
  
“Good! Now,” Adele turned to Shine, “What’s your poison?”  
  
The Dragonite gossiped on their own.  
  
“What is a Luxray doing here?”  
  
“By golly, he must be loaded!”  
  
“He can’t be serious.”  
  
“ _Who’s the fastest?”_ Shine asked, mostly for curiosity’s sake.  
  
“Well, that’d be Bally!” She pointed to the Dragonite in the middle, who was the tallest of the bunch. “Easy to handle, and can reach the peak of Snowbelle City in just an hour.”  
  
Bally gave Shine a smug smile. So he could’ve gotten to Dendemille in half an hour.  
  
“ _How much?”_  
  
“Ninety thousand!”  
  
Shine had anticipated the steep price tag just to see how far up he could go.  
  
“ _And who’s the cheapest?”_  
  
“Figure you’d say that next.” She pointed to Accendare. “You know this lil’ stowaway’s name. I don’t know how urgent your situation is, but she’ll do a good enough job for you if your only destination is Dendemille. She can get there in roughly an hour and a quarter if you don’t mind the bumpy ride.”  
  
It wasn’t exactly within the hour, but it was close enough and much better than he expected for the cheapest. Dragonite truly were first rate.  
  
“ _How much?”_  
  
“Thirty thousand!”  
  
“ _Oh,”_ he whispered. Somewhere, he had miscalculated how much he needed. Speed, handle-ability and rarity were his first standards of measurement, but there must have been something forgotten in the rush.  
  
“ _I see. I’m ten thousand short, unfortunately.”_  
  
There was a collective sigh from the group of Dragonite.  
  
“I might as well mention this is a very generous price around these parts. You might get cheaper further east, but for what’s available here, that’s a bargain.”  
  
That was it. He forgot to take availability into factor as well. Adele grunted as she retrieved Shine’s pouch from her pocket and knelt down to Shine. Only then did he realise how foolish he must have looked.  
  
“ _Sorry for wasting your time,”_ Shine said.  
  
“Nonsense!” She smiled. “I completely understand. We haven’t had a customer like you come to our ranch before, so you’ve made it worth my while!”  
  
“ _I see. Well, thank you.”_  
  
He bowed once more before turning back to the path. That was it. He’d have to return home to Tony, to his peaceful neighbourhood, to his mediocre life since leaving the facility with his questions unanswered. The train was still a possibility to travel through, but by taking the longer route, he risked losing his only other lead to fully understanding his past. As he pondered this, he saw Petri, the Goodra from earlier in the distance. Thinking back to the conversation he had with Adele about finding teachers for the Pokémon on the ranch, he couldn’t help smile at what he had in mind. Once more, Shine turned to Adele who was checking on Accendare.  
  
“ _Adele!”_ he shouted.  
  
Adele faced him again with a confused look.  
  
“ _I’ll pay the twenty thousand for Accendare, and work for as long as it takes to teach Petri to speak properly!”_  
  
A glint appeared in Adele’s eyes and she clapped her hands together.  
  
“Now we’re talking business! As long as you’re fine with it being unpaid work, we’re square!”  
  
“ _I don’t mind.”_  
  
“Good!” Adele gently undid the pouch from Shine’s neck and opened it, counting its contents, 20000 Poke dollars in ten bills, before making it disappear into her jacket.  
  
“We need to make sure you'll come back to us to start your first lesson, so me and Accendare will be there to pick you up in two days at the most.”  
  
“ _Two days?”_ he asked. Even he wasn’t sure he would be able to get Curio back in that time.  
  
“Yup. We can’t make the returning time too open, otherwise it’ll be like you’re getting a trip for free. Is that fine with you?”  
  
Shine looked to his side. Again, he wasn’t certain Curio would still be there, but he had nothing to lose by not taking up the offer except his trainer’s money.  
  
“ _Yes, but I might need to bring a friend of mine back here.”_  
  
"Same size as you?"  
  
_"She's a Lucario."_  
  
"Fine. The spikes might be a problem, but it's doable. In that case, we'll be there at 2PM on Wednesday, so don't forget that. Oh, one more thing." Adele approached Shine and knelt down to his level, uncomfortably close to his face with a serious expression.  
  
"We kinda have a serious policy on customers paying us back. If you try to weasel your way out of it or aren't there in time two days from now, well, your ass is grass."  
  
_"I can assure you I'll be there."_  
  
Adele backed away from him, smiling again.  
  
"Good! Ahem." She pulled out a walkie talkie and spoke into it. "You two! Accendare's gear please, on the double!"  
  
A moment later, two young assistants, a scruffy boy and a ribboned girl, lugged the gear in front of Adele, and she commanded them to tend to Accendare, who held up her paws in the air for them to equip her. The scruffy looking boy tried to wrap the harness around Accendare's arms, who knelt down with all four paws on the ground, and took one step to the side in an effort to pull the strap back, but missed and ended up slipping off of her, catching Accendare's arm with the loose strap which made her shriek.  
  
"Damn it, I told you to be careful!" Adele said, stomping over to let the boy down. "The last thing I need you to do is to hurt Accy!  
  
"Sorry miss," he said, looking up at her with guilty eyes.  
  
"Never mind, I'll handle this from here on out. Clearly, you need more training. Girl, you've done a good job, so that's it for now. Go take him back and make him run a lap across the field."  
  
The ribboned apprentice nodded and left with the glum looking boy. Adele leaned in to stroke Accendare's head.  
  
"It'll get more comfy with time, sweetie. That clod really doesn't make it easy for you, does he?"  
  
Accendare shook her head in reply.  
  
“There there.” She turned to Shine. “Shall we?”  
  
From there, Accendare went on all fours, presenting the saddle on her back. Adele offered a hand to Shine, gesturing to pick him up, and he sat in her arm as she climbed up Accendare to the front. She placed him in one of the empty backseats of the saddle which were mostly fit for humans but not Pokémon that weren’t bipedal. Nevertheless, he gripped the belt in front of him with ease, but a chill washed over him when he realised he was on the back of a dragon that could cycle the globe in less than a day.  
  
“Accendare, any tips for first timers?”  
  
“Um, hold on for dear life?” she said. He couldn’t see her face, but he imagined she looked quite nervous herself. “Oh, and um, thanks for picking me by the way.”  
  
“You’re welcome.”  
  
With that, the Dragonite leaned forward and started flapping her wings, sending a wave of movement through the seat, where Shine lightly bobbed up and down. Adele gently raised the bridle, and Accendare’s wings beat, progressively getting more rapid. Eventually, the ground below Shine felt weightless. Accendare was in the air.  
  
The rest of the dragons cleared the way, each flying to opposite ends of the field; the young were either picked up on the way or were left to rush to their parents as quickly as possible. Then Adele whipped the bridle.  
  
Accendare burst forward, slapping Shine across the face with a burst of wind. The ranch was behind him in an instant, and next, the trees all became a blur of green, and a blur of brown as they passed the cliffs. All the while, Shine had no time to process the level of speed he was riding at. Already, the spike in speed left him feeling dizzy, but all he could focus on was holding onto the strap and not letting go. It was something he never wanted to experience again, but the two motivating thoughts were finding Curio and by extension, regaining his lost past.


	2. Dendemille's Pests

The first thing Shine did when Accendare landed was topple to the ground and throw up. His head swam, his face felt like it was melting, and his body generally felt unpleasant. At that time, he didn’t want to think about Tony back home, about Bauble or anything else. He locked himself up in his little bubble, only burst by the presence of Accendare and Adele beside him.  
  
“Oh dear,” Accendare exclaimed. “Are you alright there? I wasn’t that bad, was I?”  
  
No response.  
  
“Man, the trip really took the wind out of your sails, huh?” Adele said. “Hold on, I might be able to help you.”  
  
Shine ingested some sort of tangy liquid, and after a moment, coherent thoughts formed again, and in time, the haze over his body cleared up. He looked to Adele with a weary expression.  
  
 _“Thank you,”_ he said.  
  
“Don’t mention it. First timers usually get sick, although most first timers don’t usually opt for a Dragonite. Can you stand?”  
  
He slowly got to his feet and tried to stretch, but after such a long ride, his legs were too tired for him to keep a proper balance, so he toppled to the floor.  
  
 _“Well, this is embarrassing.”_  
  
“Oh tosh, with that sort of speed, it’s no wonder you’re tuckered out! Don’t worry, it’ll pass if you get a lil’ rest.”  
  
 _“I’ll be fine from here on out then.”_ He forced a smile.  
  
“In that case, take care, and don’t forget our agreement now!”  
  
 _“I promise I won’t.”_  
  
“Hold on, um, Mister Shine,” Accendare chimed in. “Can I join in with Petri’s lesson as well?”  
  
“I don’t see why not.”  
  
“Thanks,” she said with a wan smile before flapping her wings again. Adele waved him goodbye and with one flick of her wrist, Accendare took off, blasting him in the face with wind.  
  
When Shine eventually came to, he recognised he stood in a park with a big wooden gazebo at the very edge, and the few people strolling through were already looking his direction, undoubtedly weirded out by the air-delivered Luxray. He tried to ignore them and looked further into the distance, where past a surrounding cluster of trees, there were cottages and wooden houses that snaked up a series of hills, topped with a windmill whose blades swirled in the air.  
  
Once his legs regained some semblance of strength, he paced around idly, trying to reorient himself with the sensation of walking and to figure out where he could ask around. His first thought was to find the town square, and so Shine padded over to the park’s exit and continued down the main road.  
  
In his journey through the paths of Dendemille, he walked out the stiffness in his joints, and by strolling through the picturesque landscapes of the area, with the mixture of white, pink, and red flower petals flittering down and the scent of vanilla gently wafting in the air, he calmed his nerves from the ride. At least, until he had to interrogate the strangers in town.  
  
In time he found the main square and upon entering the plaza, the presence seemed different from what he was used to in Ambrette. The area was less densely populated, and whereas there was always activity from the coastal Pokémon flying in and the amount of tourists the town gathered during summertime, he found Dendemille more or less beat to the tune of its own drum. Many older trainers drifted in and out of the town’s hub, dressed in plain-clothes or overalls, with their farming Pokémon almost as tall as them by their side, with only a few younger trainers to be seen, presumably in transit to the next city.  
  
A dozen of market stalls stood in the centre, most of which were run by trainers with different assortments of training paraphernalia and farmers with their crops or fresh meat, while an old trader sat quietly under a tent with makeshift shelves of books surrounding him.  
  
He was the first person Shine could think of to ask about Curio’s whereabouts. Usually, Shine would’ve been anxious confronting strangers on his own, even with his skills, but the excitement of finding the lead outweighed any embarrassment he’d subject himself to. Perhaps on instinct, as someone he expected was well read probably had the most information about local affairs, he padded over to the tent, glancing over to the shelves to see if there was anything interesting he could look up later back home. He poked his nose into the trader’s inventory where old paper wafted in the air, something of a comfort to Shine’s affinity for books.  
  
“’Lo there,” the trader said, making Shine jump. “Don’t worry, I know you’re ‘armless. I’ve not ‘idden any meat in those books, though I do’ave a treat if you’re ‘ungry.”  
  
 _“Um, no thank you, sir,”_ Shine said, bowing. _“Do you have any time to spare?”_  
  
The trader smiled.  
  
“Well, I’m chuffed to ‘elp out any well spoken Pokémon. Don’t usually see your kind outside them big cities.”  
  
 _“Mmm hmm. Have you seen a Lucario with a metal arm around here recently?”_  
  
“You mean Curio?” the trader asked, scratching his balding head. “’aven’t seen her myself, but I’ve ‘eard plenty about ‘er. She’s a right old troublemaker, ‘pparently.” He leafed through his own copy of The Regional Roundup. “She went at those Claws, she did.”  
  
 _“Yes, I read that, but the police think she might have something to do with them. You don’t think she’s a part of some criminal gang, do you?”_  
  
“Well I don’t know. Just what I’ve ‘eard. She’s stirred up plenty of trouble before, so I wouldn’t put it past ‘er.”  
  
That neither confirmed or denied Shine’s fears.  
  
 _“Um, what else has she done in this town to cause such a fuss?”_  
  
“Broke into that vineyard, for starters.” He pointed at the windmill in the distance. “That thing’s protected by a gate, you see, and from what I read, she climbed over it and destroyed a lot of crops on the way, then bam, out again.”  
  
 _“Oh.”_ It wasn’t what he hoped to hear at all. The trader must’ve seen the worry on his face as he gave him a reassuring smile.  
  
“On the other ‘and, she is quite popular with the locals, from what I ‘ear. Some folks at the pub talk about ‘er all the time, with all the interestin’ stories she tells. Some says she took down a Garchomp single-’andedly, or pawdedly. Others says she jumped off of Jubilife Tower and lived, though I reckon that’s a bunch o’ crap. Either way, not every town gets a talkin’ Lucario with a metal arm like ‘er, for better or for worse I suppose.”  
  
Shine’s mouth went agape as it was a lot to take in at once, but still, he had to focus on the task at hand, or paw.  
  
 _“Do you know where I can find Curio, then?”_  
  
“You can check the windmill, but 'side from that, I can’t be of much more ‘elp, I’m afraid. Sorry.”  
  
 _“No, no, you’ve given me plenty to work with, sir. Thank you.”_  
  
“And you. ‘Bout time I got someone who’s polite in my lot, not like these old farts here.” He flashed a self-satisfied grin and Shine bowed to him before retreating to one corner of the plaza, resting on the cold cobblestone floor. He contemplated the information the trader gave him, soaking up the atmosphere of the market square as faraway conversation passed, while the distant notes of a guitar drifted in and faded out.  
  
There was still a lot he didn’t remember about Curio. He hadn’t come across her once in Sinnoh since their escape, or any other subject for that matter despite his constant searching, and five years was a long time to change, especially when one had to adapt to an alien environment like Shine did before he met Tony. She could’ve been anywhere.  
  
A sense of dread lingered over him like a thundercloud. When he eventually met her, if he eventually met her, would she even want to see him after all this time? His own memories of her were vague at best, so would she even recognise him?  
  
He shook himself out of his thought bubble and got to his feet, looking to the mill in the distance. Perhaps that would’ve given him a clue on her whereabouts.  
  
And so, he started the long trek up the series of hills where the cottages sat, thatched roofs and all. On closer inspection, Shine noticed some of those houses had farm lots in their front gardens which were tended to by Pokémon and their trainers, and as he passed by, they stopped their work to stare at him, which struck him as odd at first. He didn’t stop, but the further he advanced, the more he noticed what the Pokémon and trainers did when they spotted him.  
  
A few Pokémon roaming outside the cottages immediately sprang out of their work or napping sessions to stand in front of the fields with their backs straightened, their teeth clenched, their eyes tracking, everything to indicate they were cautious of Shine’s presence. Their trainers caught wind of this too, either standing by their guarding Pokémon or summoning others outside their balls, ready to command them to fight. Wary of his own presence, he took a deep breath and advanced further up the path ahead, quickening his pace.  
  
Once he reached the top, Shine stopped to marvel at the sheer size of the mill for the first time with his own eye. What he viewed from far away at first didn’t give much of an indication of the foundation of the windmill itself, but when he faced it from the edge of the hill, he had to tilt his head upward to see the top of it. The blades gently rotated in the wind and the air whooshed with every revolution.  
  
When he let his head down, he narrowed his eye at the series of tall metal fences surrounding the grounds of the mill, kept under lock and key by a gate. The trader mentioned Curio ‘trespassed’, not simply walked in as if it was a park, and for good reason too. There were plants with Razz Berries, Bluk Berries and many other berries he couldn’t recall at the top of his head, while he sniffed the air and tasted the sickly scent of honey. Any self-respecting owner wouldn’t let a wild Pokemon take from their wares, after all.  
  
Shine’s eye flashed gold and the surroundings turned transparent, allowing him a full view of everything going on at the mill. Several humans were inside the buildings, nowhere near close to where he could talk to them, and two others were outside picking berries from the plants, one further away and one closer to the gate, a boy in his teens. There was also a Leafeon on patrol walking around the perimeter of the fence from the inside, but Shine preferred to get the boy’s attention first to avoid being chased by a guarding Pokémon, as they were small enough to fit through the metal bars.  
  
He softly padded through the grass along the edge of the fence with his see-through vision still active, getting closer to his lead until he saw him through the grating. Shine opened his mouth to shout, then--  
  
“Hey boy!” A coarse voice called from far away. “Come here this instant!”  
  
“Y-yes Sir!” he stammered, and left his berry basket unattended as he rushed to the mill.  
  
Shine cursed himself. His potential source of information had disappeared. If he found somewhere to hide, he would be able to try again, but he considered the chance that the Leafeon would catch him while he looked.  
  
He turned around and carefully retraced his steps to the path leading to the gate, when something tugged at his paw. He winced as he tried to shake it off, but the more he struggled to get it free, the tighter it wrapped around his ankle, like some sort of rope activated by a trap. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. It wouldn’t’ve done any good to panic.  
  
“Well lookie here,” a femme voice called, “I caught me a...” The voice trailed off for a moment, then a set of paws traipsed through the grass and the Leafeon stood in front of him, squinting her eyes at the Luxray.  
  
“Wait, what are you again? I don’t think I’ve seen your type around here before.”  
  
“I’m a--”  
  
“Don’t care, but you look like a cat Pokémon, and it’s always fishy when one of your kind shows up on these grounds, and I don’t see a collar on you.” A trail of grass knots snaked under Shine’s body and tied themselves around each of his limbs, anchoring him to the ground. He squirmed in its grasp, but with each movement, the knots surrounding him pulled taut. “You in cahoots with Thousand Claws?”  
  
“Why would I be?”  
  
The Leafeon hummed to herself, and one by one, the grass knots unwound themselves from Shine’s body, allowing him to stand upright again.  
  
“Congratulations,” she said with a smug grin, “You passed the idiot test. If you were one of them, you’d be too stupid to play dumb, if that makes sense.”  
  
Shine stood on the pads of his feet, teeth bared.  
  
“Alright, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do, miss. Why did you attack me?”  
  
“Well, I didn’t attack you, just consider it a little rough-housing from me.”  
  
“That’s what I’d call an attack.”  
  
She stuck her tongue out. “A rose by any other name, I guess is what the humans say.”  
  
“Marguerite!” The coarse voice called out again. The two turned towards the source and saw the face of a weathered-looking man with gardening gloves behind the fence. “Don’t just stand there; when there’s a Claw that invades our turf, attack on sight!”  
  
 _“Excuse me,”_ Shine chimed in, _“I don’t know who exactly these Claws are supposed to be, but I’m certainly not one of them.”_  
  
The man rubbed his forehead, mumbling to himself as he approached the end of his side of the grate. “Well blow me down, how’d I get another talkin’ Pokémon outside my property?”  
  
 _“Never mind that. I heard a Lucario trespassed upon this vineyard, is that correct? I’m trying to find her, you see, and any information you have on her will be helpful.”_  
  
“Oh for the love of--” He cracked his knuckles. “I thought I’d hear the end of that lousy Lucario. I guess you know her, then. If it’ll get her rotten ass out of this town, I might as well tell you what you want to know. I’ll open the fence.”  
  
Shine nodded and headed for the entrance alongside Marguerite, who didn’t hesitate to nudge his side once he and the caretaker were done talking.  
  
“Okay, I’m not surprised by a lot of things and I find that awesome. Not one, but two human speaking Pokémon coming here so soon together? I’m pretty sure the world’s going to explode at this rate.”  
  
He mumbled a response as he advanced through the newly-opened gate. The caretaker was there to greet him as he gestured towards the path in front of them and followed behind, walking on the footpath surrounded by many different exotic looking berries. Shine took a whiff of them, only to be greeted with many different potent, sickly smells that tingled the senses, which he scratched his nose at. The caretaker stopped just beneath the windmill’s blades, and crossed his arms with a stern expression.  
  
“All right, then, spit it out.”  
  
 _“When did Curio do this, and what did she do anyway?”_  
  
“Just yesterday, in fact. See that there?” He pointed at one part of the grate. “That’s where she climbed up. Can’t explain how. This fence was installed to keep Pokémon of her ilk from getting in at all.” He moved his finger downward, trailing through the mess of uprooted plants. “She ran through them silvervines there and ruined them. They hadn’t even finished growing and they’ve been there for two months. Had enough trouble with the Claws trying to steal them as it is.  
  
Now, me and Marguerite were on the site at the time, so you can imagine I tried to get her to bugger off somewhere else. When I shouted to get her to stop, she climbed over the fence again and ran off. She did say she was sorry and swore it was for a good cause, but not before she called me a grumpy old fart. That sort of disrespect shouldn’t be stood for from Pokemon, I tell you. Next thing you know, they’ll be takin’ over and ruining us all, and then, who knows, the white god’ll rain a firestorm over our heads and--”  
  
 _“Excuse me,”_ Shine said, thumping his paw, _“I don’t mean to interrupt, but this is urgent. Would you happen to know where she went afterwards, or if she came back here?”_  
  
“Yes.” He pointed at the ground with the tip of his boot. “She left behind a bag on that day.”  
  
Shine cocked his head.  
  
“Don’t ask me where she got it from, but it was in the way, so I had to store it in one of the sheds. I took a little peek in there and it was filled with all sorts of scraps. Opened cans, trinkets, broken equipment like bikes and crowbars, loose bits of paper. I could go on forever, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s in that bag. It was gone by next morning; guess she must’ve taken it back. Haven’t heard nothing about her since, good riddance. That’s as far as my involvement goes with it, anyway. I’m sure you had something to do with it too though, Marguerite. Why don’t you tell this lad here what business you had with the Lucario, hmm? Take a break while you’re at it.”  
  
Marguerite’s ears perked up as she leered at her master. She looked at Shine once more, then turned to the exiting path.  
  
“I’d be pleased as punch to,” she said, more for herself than her trainer.  
  
 _“Thank you very much for the information,”_ Shine said, bowing.  
  
“Don’t mention it. Have fun with her,” he said with a grin.  
  
Shine followed Marguerite out the smelly vineyard as the caretaker closed the gate behind them.  
  
“So Marguerite, is it?” he asked.  
  
“Ugh, just call me Leafeon. He has the worst taste for names.”  
  
“Right, Leafeon, what else happened that night?”  
  
“Well, she just appeared outside the fence again and asked me to give back her bag. She had some nerve asking me that, because that’s what any Pokémon would ask after destroying a trainer’s stuff. I said no, but she offered me something in return for it, so I thought screw it, why not?”  
  
“She did?”  
  
“Sure, follow me.”  
  
Leafeon led the way to an odd looking patch of dirt in the midst of the green hill, which had a musky smell to it. Clearly, she had marked her territory. In any case, she dug through the ground, sending clumps of mud everywhere until she reached the bottom, and pulled out an object. It was an odd looking metallic Magikarp made to scale with empty cans of Cheri Psycho Soda for the body, yellow bits of plastic sticking out for a tail and large wads of gum for the eyes. It was a ‘rare, unusual, or intriguing object’ or in other words, a curio. Of what he remembered, it was similar to the sculptures she used to make in GeL.  
  
“I’m impressed.”  
  
“You could say that. Useless, but not bad for a Pokémon. You can have it if you want.”  
  
Shine wrinkled his nose at the suggestion, considering it was still marked with Leafeon’s scent.  
  
“I’ll pass for now, thanks. But, why did she give this to you?”  
  
“Beats me. Why does any Pokémon do anything?”  
  
“Point taken. You haven’t heard anything else from her?”  
  
“Nope, she hasn’t come back here since.”  
  
“In that case.” Shine bowed to Leafeon. “Thanks, I’ll be on my way now.”  
  
“Wait a sec, how long are you going to be chasing her tail for?”  
  
“As long as it takes me to find her before Wednesday.”  
  
“Then a word of advice.” She gave him a serious look. “Find some shelter before midnight. Those Thousand Claws will get to you otherwise, and there are loads of them too, so be extra careful.”  
  
Shine knew they were a gang, and one that Curio might’ve been associated with, but he didn’t bother asking her for any more info and bowed to her before he made his way down the hill again.  
  
As he glanced over to the small landowners, who still looked cautious in his presence, he gained a new found understanding for the town's weird air. It wasn't unheard of to have Pokémon form gangs in the cities, and he experienced it a few times in previous encounters before he met Tony, but they were only limited to a few dozen at the most, so they didn't cast much of a net. In that many numbers, no wonder the townsfolk were so apprehensive around him.  
  
Shine remembered the lack of a jingle by his neck and internally cursed Bauble, however helpful she was. She had to take his collar, of all things.  
  
Once he reached the town centre again, he was a little more at ease as the passers by there didn't acknowledge his existence, but still, he was nowhere closer to finding Curio than he was earlier. He wouldn’t give up though, so after a couple of hours of greeting, bowing and apologising to random strangers, it approached sundown, and his stomach started to rumble, but Shine eventually found a link to one of Curio's regular spots through another trainer and his Greninja.  
  
Although he didn't know where she was exactly, the trainer made an offhand mention to seeing her at a pub he frequently took his Pokémon to called The Vine, a block away from the town square. Shine thanked them and found it not long after, although it was fairly hidden amongst the flashier neighbouring shops.  
  
He entered and was greeted with the quietude of the late afternoon, with only a few young trainers crowded around the pool table, clearly not there for the drink. The only other noticeable figure was a Venusaur, most likely the place's namesake, plopped down in the space of the corner where it almost touched the ceiling, where vines that grew from their body snaked along the walls. Shine briefly looked them over as he was amazed at the sight of something so big cramped inside a closed space, before padding over to them, where they lazily lifted their tired eyes open.  
  
"Excuse me," Shine said,"Is Curio here?"  
  
"Perhaps," The Venusaur groaned, and let out a mighty yawn before closing their eyes again. "Poke-room, on the right, maybe."  
  
Shine nodded and headed for the room in question, which featured a door with a crudely drawn Pokeball etched on the wooden frame. With one prod of his paw, Shine opened it, revealing a more lively scene to the ones inhabited by the humans.  
  
It was how Shine expected a local Poke-room to be from what he heard on the Pokespeaker Forums online. There were a few cushions scattered around the floor with various Pokémon lying on them, a low table set with a Quilladin and a Delphox sat around it playing some sort of chess game, and a couch with a trainer and his Gligar lounging around on it, typing on their PokePad. Curiously enough, there were also drawings on the walls of different kinds of Pokemon, doodled with various coloured markers, with a crude style that vaguely reminded him of her work. Still no actual sign of her, though. When Shine entered, the Gligar immediately turned towards the door and grew wide eyed.  
  
“You’re Shine? Man, never thought I’d get the chance to see you!”  
  
They flew noiselessly from his trainer’s comfort to greet Shine, pointing their barb to the right of Shine’s face where his socket had closed over.  
  
“I was wondering what that eye looked like.” In the same breath, he retracted his tail in a sharp movement. “Whoops, how rude of me.” He stepped back and cleared his throat.  
  
 _“Name’s Barley,”_ he said in human tongue as he presented his claw to Shine, _“And I’m the co-manager of this little shindig, along with my trainer.”_  
  
“’Sup.” They reached a lazy hand into the air, still fixated on the screen.  
  
Shine spaced out for a moment, trying to make heads or tails of what Barley just told him. If he knew his name, he must’ve known Curio for quite some time, long enough for her to tell him more about Shine than he himself would admit. And if he could speak the human tongue as well, then…  
  
 _“Are you just gonna stare at it?”_ Barley said, making a face. Shine took the hint and shook paws with him.  
  
 _“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Barley,”_ he said in the same tongue, then switched to his own. “I take it you’re on the forums, then?”  
  
“Sure I am! But we can get that out of the way later.” Barley rubbed his claws in a quick motion. “What can I do for you? We’ve got cushions, snacks, toys, and a lot of board games if you’re into that sort of thing.”  
  
“Heh,” the Delphox snorted from across the room, “Three or four, more like.”  
  
“Well, I’m still working on that area. But yeah, if there’s anything you want, be our guest!”  
  
Shine had come a long way, and the empty feeling in his stomach only grew with each passing minute, but first, he had to address the Donphan in the room.  
  
“Actually, I’m here to see Curio, although she doesn’t seem to be here, does she?”  
  
“Sorry, you just about missed her,” he said with a shrug. “She only came out a moment ago.”  
  
“You’re joking.”  
  
“Nope, she said she had business to take care of, whatever that means. She usually does her own thing.”  
  
He sighed. After all that time looking around town, Shine was nowhere closer to properly meeting her than before.  
  
“Great.”  
  
“Yeah, that is rather unfortunate. But, you’ve come to the right place, since she’s a regular visitor here. Hopefully, you’ll get to see her soon, so why not make yourself at home?”  
  
“Even so, I’m in a hurry to find her, so I’d rather not waste any time.”  
  
The Delphox huffed from across the room.  
  
“That’s probably not going to happen for two reasons. First, there are those Thousand Claws. If you catch yourself alone out there, they’ll come out all at once and capture you. And that’s not even the worst of it.” He stopped to knock over his opponent’s Pawniard, much to Quilladin’s chagrin.  
  
“Secondly, I have a little motto when it comes to that little vixen.” Making a point of this, the Delphox snapped his claws in the air. “You don’t find Curio, Curio finds you. Barley will tell you just as much.”  
  
Barley nodded with a worried look. Shine looked to his feet and thought it over. If he stayed where he was in that room, there was the chance that Curio would come back eventually, but that was no guarantee. His paws still bounced with the excitement of finding his lead.  
  
If he was to chase after her again, he would need to find a way to venture outside while keeping out of trouble. He sat close to the table the two starter Pokémon were playing at, giving him a view of the board, where the Quilladin stared for a moment, reaching a paw out to move one of his chess pieces, then retracted it soon after.  
  
“I’ve heard a few things about the gang,” Shine said, “but why here of all places?”  
  
“Haven’t a clue.” The Delphox shrugged. “I’ve only been here a few days tops while my trainer gets her contest business sorted out. I can’t wait for us to get out of this stinking town.”  
  
Barley glided over to the table next to Shine’s spot.  
  
“Well this town’s hardly stinking, but it would be a lot better if it wasn’t for them. As far as I know, it just happened. Lots of Meowth bred on the outskirts of town, some other Pokemon migrated from the other cities, the strays already in this town joined forces and that’s how it came to be. Since then, they’ve wreaked all sorts of havoc across this town. Crops are being ruined left and right. Fights have been started. They’ve even stolen wallets before.”  
  
“But,” Shine said, “What do they need wallets for?”  
  
The Quilladin raised his paw in the air and gestured at a row of chipped teeth.  
  
“Why’d you think they left me this little present? Because they can.”  
  
“Yes, we’ve heard about it five times already,” the Delphox said, pointing to the chessboard, “I’m still waiting on your turn.”  
  
“I’m thinkin’ on it, okay? This human game’s hard, you know.”  
  
Barley tugged on Shine’s shoulder with a grave look.  
  
“You can see why it’s such a problem, and nobody knows what to do with it, not even the police. And they’ve done worse. Sometimes, when I glide over town during the day, I see...” He hesitated, then continued in a low voice. “Dead bodies in the alleys. Only small Pokémon like Rattata and such, but with so many in their gang, they could do it to any Pokémon no matter how big or small.”  
  
Shine looked deeply into Barley’s eyes, which were misty, and it felt as if the Gligar would’ve broken down any minute. The issue clearly meant a lot to the purple bat-looking Pokemon, but if that was the case, then why would Curio get entangled with such a gang in the first place?  
  
“At the risk of sounding like a fool,” Shine said, “The paper mentioned Curio was a part of the Claws, and that she was wanted by the police. That can’t be true, can it?”  
  
Thankfully, Barley broke off into laughter.  
  
“By his white _ass_ , no! The papers don’t know squat about her, even though she’s been here a while!”  
  
“It seems like she’s made a name for herself already, then.”  
  
“You think?” the Delphox chimed in. “You don’t get to see her kind every day, especially not with that arm.”  
  
“Oh yeah,” Barley said, looking expectantly at Shine, “I know she’s mentioned you before as an old friend, but you must know a lot more about her than we do. Even after all this time, we don’t know anything about her or where she came from, just random bits and pieces, but now you’re here, what is the story behind that arm of hers anyway?” The other two Pokémon stopped their game to stare at Shine, who all gazed at him with a shared curiosity. Shine suddenly felt a lump in his throat.  
  
The circumstances behind her arm weren’t something he wanted to remember, but of all the memories he buried of GeL, both good and bad, if there was one thing Shine could think back on for days, it was how Curio acted once Shine and his remaining crew took her to their hideout.  
  
Ignoring everyone else’s reaction to her new arm, Curio would stare at it and grip it for ages. To see her go nearly catatonic was one thing, but having to gag her to stop her from screaming and giving away their location was another. Curio would thrash about and wail, repeating the word ‘stop’ over and over, and although it took the whole team to restrain her, she kept fighting for ages until she was in a state to start talking again. When she did, what she told them about her experiences, or at least, all her mind could bare to tell them, he long since blocked out of his mind.  
  
If Curio hadn’t told those Pokémon about it, all Shine could glean from it was that she repressed those memories on the same level Shine had. He swallowed and spoke clearly.  
  
“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything Curio hasn’t told you before, for her sake. None of us want to talk about it.”  
  
“Why not?” Quilladin exclaimed, “You’re the guy who--” The Delphox whacked the top of Quilladin’s head with his wooden staff.  
  
“Watch your tongue, sapling.”  
  
Barley’s barbed tail drooped behind him, but nevertheless, he smiled and placed a claw on Shine’s shoulder.  
  
“I understand. I won’t press her about it anymore.”  
  
Shine nodded in gratitude. Even if he didn’t recall much about his old friends, they were as entitled to keep secrets as he was.  
  
An awkward air filled the room after that. Shine sat there, digesting the information he was given as he watched the game progress. The Quilladin nursed his head, still trying to find a way to end his turn while the Delphox waited with bated breath. Barley crept over to the Grass Pokémon’s side and whispered in his ear, and momentarily, there was a glint in his eyes, where he slammed the Gardevoir, or in this case, Sirknight, over the opponent’s Bisharp. In the same breath, the Delphox made his move and overtook the Sirknight with his Nidoqueen.  
  
“What?” The Quilladin said, banging his paws on the table. “That’s not fair, I only just made that move!”  
  
The Delphox smiled. “So?”  
  
Shine budged out from his sitting place as the two argued back and forth. He wasn’t gaining anything by staying in this room, even if it was safer. It might’ve been preferable to the threat of the outdoors, but to him, getting to meet Curio was top priority, even if he had to find a way to sleuth around the city. For the journey, he took a few bites from the shared snack bowl and a quick swig of water, which restored a little of his energy, but before he exited the room, Barley glided in front of him, giving him the same worried look he made earlier.  
  
“Are you sure you want to look for her at this time of night?” Barley said.  
  
“Are you going to stop me?” Shine said.  
  
“No, no, it’s your choice after all, just be careful, please. From what I gather, Curio cares about you, so I don’t think she’ll want to see you end up as cat food, if it comes to that.”  
  
Shine gulped. Part of him secretly hoped Barley would try to put up some sort of fight if it was that severe, but the Gligar stepped aside and gave him leeway to exit.  
  
“It’s nice speaking to another Pokemon like me. One more thing, though,” he added, “What’s your name on the forums?”  
  
“’Congress-Of-Dunsparces’, with dashes between the words. I’ll be looking forward to go through it with my trainer once I get home, but for now, good luck keeping this place afloat.”  
  
Barley nodded and widely smiled. “Will do. And safe travels, my friend.”  
  
Before Shine left the room, he caught a glimpse of the Quilladin on the floor as he lifted the table’s leg and flipped it over, sending chess pieces tumbling everywhere with a crash.


	3. Dendemille's Dealer

When Shine came out, the sky turned a dusky blue with streetlights illuminating the paths before him. Aware of the dangers lurking in the shadows, he turned his golden vision on, making the outlines of the buildings a milky white and everything else transparent. Almost everyone and their Pokémon were settling down for the day, all except a few that looked particularly feline, scattered in various alleys and little hideouts further away from the town centre.

Shine took a deep breath, going through everything in his head that had already been ruled out about Curio’s whereabouts. The square was worth another check, but after that, it was safe to assume she wouldn’t be lurking there during the night. The windmill was out, as she likely had no reason to return there again. Everything else inside the town was out, as Shine asked around for hours with little to no results. Even with his ability to see through objects, Curio was nowhere in his view.

Even with Barley and his friends back at the Vine, she was just as elusive to them as she was to every other stranger in Dendemille. She seemed to tell a lot about herself, yet very little about her true nature. With that, more questions swirled around in Shine’s head. What was she doing there in the first place? When did she arrive? Did she have somewhere to stay? Then the Delphox’s motto played back in his head.

‘You don’t find Curio, Curio finds you.’

He shifted his focus back to the hollow streets he stood in the middle of, as he was still safe while he was nearby the openly lit pub, but once he ventured further into the darkness, his undivided attention would have to go towards keeping out of harm’s way, somehow. With nowhere else to go except forward, Shine took one slow step into the night, mentally repeating the motto like a mantra.

The trip to the square was easy, as he spotted none of the Claws lurking about on the way there or nearby the centre. His hope was that there was still a stall open that had more information, but when he reached the area, all of the tables had cleared out and the camper vans had driven away, leaving an entire section of the area empty. The only other human activity happening was the nightlife, and even then, they stayed isolated inside the pub windows that cast a warm orange glow out to the cold open. After a minute of combing through humankind and Pokémon alike, he found no results, although there was one Lucario sitting idly beside their trainer in a booth at a pub named Charizard’s Spit.

They certainly weren’t Curio, as their left arm would’ve been transparent if that was the case, but they still had the power of aura, which was a step beyond Shine’s night vision. While a Luxray was limited to its sight, a Lucario’s aura could easily stretch beyond that, for hundreds of meters and miles in exceptional cases, even with closed eyes, and with that, Shine made his way towards the door.

The place was a lot more lively than the Vine in terms of its patrons where a lot more adults chatted around the counter holding all sorts of various liquids in shots, pints and pitchers, with a few younger trainers sat in various places drinking soda. Shine wrinkled his nose at it as he walked through the bar area, thinking back to the sickly smells of the vineyard, but it didn’t take long for him to find the Lucario, who sat in a corner amongst different young trainers and their Pokémon, tracing their paw on the rim of an empty glass. Eventually, they looked up and the two made eye contact with one another, which was quickly broken as they made a face and tugged on their trainer’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” the young girl asked. Without a word, the Lucario pointed to Shine, bringing her into contact with him.

“What do you want with Luccy?” she said, glaring at him

He hoped for a more tactful introduction as he had business with the Lucario alone, but he remembered most trainers weren’t as lax as Tony was, especially not in a place overrun by criminal cats, so he had to remedy it with a polite greeting. He approached them slowly and bowed.

_“Sorry Miss.”_ He raised his voice to speak over the commotion. _“I don’t mean to alert you but I have something I’d like to ask him if you have the time.”_

“Oh, yeah yeah, sure!” Her eyes almost leapt out of their sockets as she scurried past out of the booth. “I’ll refill our drinks, just give me a minute, okay Luccy?”

Luccy rapidly nodded their head and their trainer reached out for the glass, leaving the two in their own company. The Lucario stared at Shine with their mouth agape.

“You c-can speak?” he stuttered.

“Yes,” Shine said back in his own tongue, “But never mind that. I’m looking for someone important to me and I need your help. Do you sense a Lucario with a metal arm named Curio nearby?”

“I--” Luccy covered his mouth, and balled his paw into a fist before letting it fall to his lap.

“S-s-sorry, I have no id-d-dea what you’re t-t-talking about.”

Shine grunted. Although he would take most things at face value, one look at him made it obvious he hid something. He leered at the Lucario, something he hadn’t had to do in a while.

“I can’t stress this enough. It’s very important for you to tell me the truth if it helps me find her. I know you of all Pokémon can help even if your aura isn’t very strong, and I know she’s around these parts; she couldn’t have gone outside this town already. So tell me where she is, please, sir Luccy.”

Luccy broke out into a sharp fit of laughter.

“I’m telling you, I d-d-don’t know them. I mean, a Luc-c-cario with a metal arm, that’s stupid!”

Shine leaned in as close as the space could allow on the opposite side of the table, stopping him from outright pouncing on the Lucario. Shine was starting to run out of options and this was his only lead, else he would have to throw himself back into the chaos of the night. To restrain himself, he took a deep breath and sat back down on the bench.

“If you don’t tell me where she is, then I’m afraid we’ll have to take this outside, your trainer be damned. I have to apologise for this, but for the final time, I can’t let this opportunity pass me by. So tell me now and--”

Luccy gasped and pointed to his trainer, who held two pints of cola.

“What’s going on here?” she said. Shine smiled to her, trying his best to look genuine.

_“Hello again Miss, I was hoping for sir Luccy to give me some information, but now that you’re here, I’m trying to find a Lucario wielding a metal arm, if you’ve seen her recently.”_

The trainer’s eyes drooped and she thumped both glasses on the table, sitting next to Luccy who clutched her arm.

“Calm down. I’ll explain for you. We’d rather not talk about it, for his sake. I don’t wanna fight you for it if you have nothing else to say.”

This was Shine’s last chance to get a response out of them, and to do that, he would have to come up with something desperate, even if it was a lie. Not having seen her for five years wasn’t a good enough excuse as it required a long winded explanation of his plans, so he took another breath and tried to give his best performance.

_“My friend Curio is lost. Me and my trainer’s team have been trying to find her for days. We were originally supposed to pass by here straight to Anistar when she started an argument and left in a huff, and she tends to create trouble when she’s in a bad mood. I apologise for anything of ill she’s caused you, but we’ve been trying to remedy that by getting her to come back with us. It’s only in her nature, I’m sure you understand, so please, it’s important to fix the mess we made if it will help her stop causing havoc, or fighting with other Pokemon in the street, or trespassing windmills.”_

“That’s not t-t-true.” Luccy tugged on her shoulder. “Don’t believe him, he’s lying, he’s a bald faced liar, please!”

His cries of protest came out as nothing more than animalistic whimpers which only Shine and his kind could understand. Shine felt the familiar twist in his stomach, seeing how desperate the poor Lucario was to communicate with his trainer, but there were more pressing issues at hand than a wounded conscience. The trainer held up her hand to him and he stopped, then she gave Shine a friendly smile.

“Well, I did see her pass by the square to that path that leads to the outskirts just ten or so minutes ago, but that’s about it. Something must’ve happened between these two because I don’t know why, but Luccy started growling and chasing her tail. I mean, you went straight for it, didn’t you?” She placed her hand on his paw. “I guess she must’ve said something terrible to you to make you so angry, huh?”

He hummed to himself, letting go of her arms at last and cast a sullen look at his glass. The trainer sniggered and took a sip of her own.

“This is kinda sudden, you know. I thought the metal arm was strange, but I’ve only been here a few days and I’ve already met two Pokémon that can speak like us! I guess lightning’s gonna strike down on my head next time I go out.”

A chuckled escaped Shine’s lips. Considering his powers, that was funnier than the trainer would’ve thought.

_“I understand. To be honest, I’m finding all this strange myself, but let’s get back on track. You stopped Luccy and...”_

“And that’s it. He calmed down soon after, and now we’re having a few drinks before we take on the next gym in Anistar, just like you. Well, not drinks drinks but, you know.”

Flushing a hot pink, the trainer took a swig of the cola and exhaled. Along with her, Luccy chugged the entirety of his drink in one go, letting out a series of quiet hiccups. Shine sussed out that the Lucario knew about Curio and would hint to her whereabouts, but there was the gut feeling to do some more prodding.

_“Well, thank you for your time,”_ Shine said, bowing, _“I’m rather new to this place, so I think I’ll need someone to point me in the right direction of those outskirts.”_

“Right, right,” the trainer said, “You know, I dunno if I can describe it so easily.” She stopped and grabbed ahold of Luccy’s paw again. “Can you show this nice Pokémon the way?”

Luccy darted his eyes back to Shine, then back to his trainer, and sighed.

“If I must,” he said, more for himself than his trainer.

“Thanks!” She shook it and made some room for the Lucario to scurry out of the booth. Shine didn’t wait for him to show him out before heading for the door.

“And don’t stray out too far! Those Claws are dangerous!”

Luccy gave another low grunt from far away before joining Shine outside, whose paws tightened into fists.

“Um, d-d-do you mind if I do something quickly?”

The knot in Shine’s stomach grew taut, and he took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was about to come.

“Go ahead. I’m sorry if--” A ball of aura flew past his face, but missed, only brushing past Shine’s mane.

“If you wanted a free hit, you could’ve just said so.”

“Yeah, I know, b-b-but--” Luccy paused, then waved his arms in the air. “That was so unfair! You can’t do that to me, you never lie to a Lucario!”

“Yes, I know that little maxim, but lies also beget lies. Now please, for the last time. Tell me what you know about Curio.”

Luccy grumbled, pulling on the appendages behind his head.

“Oh dear, I guess there’s no point hiding it, now you got my trainer to spill it. You know what, though? I hate that Lucario's guts. Whenever she passes me by, she feels the need to poke me with that arm. I get goosebumps whenever I feel that cold thing. Not only that, I can’t pass her by without her saying something like ‘Hey Lu-lu-luccy, how’s your st-st-stutter today?’ When I saw her back there, it was the last straw with me, you know. If you don’t mind me saying so, I wanted to swipe that smug little face off.”

Shine closed his eye and exhaled. Even though his memory of her was still fuzzy, there was something about Luccy’s words that struck a nerve. Shine fought back the urge to pounce on him again. Luccy must’ve sensed it with his aura, so he nervously smiled.

“Hey, s-s-sorry. Nobody likes having someone else insulting someone you c-c-care about. I just don’t understand her.” He cast a glance to the road and rubbed his paws together. “She creeps me out. Not just that arm, but her aura. It’s like nothing I’ve felt before, just a whirlwind of emotions and random thoughts without any way to read into them. I sense many dark secrets from her, and you as well, like you both have been through something terrible, yet all locked away in some v-v-vault, or something. I w-w-wish I could help you with that.”

“I understand that, but I’m in a hurry. Do you sense her close by or not?”

“Go straight up that path to Route 15,” Luccy said, pointing,”And you’ll see her on the outskirts there. I can see she’s adding something to something. I think she’s lighting a fire. It’s kind of hard to--”

“Alright, thank you!”

Without turning back, Shine sprinted for the path and kept running. His heart pumped. His breaths were light. His heavy paws pounded on the pavement and echoed through the streets. That was it. He finally found Curio, the Lucario that would lead to him regaining his memories. As the momentum of his limbs carried him, he saw himself catching up to her any second, even if he couldn’t see her with his naked eye.

Shine’s ears twitched. Sets of paws pitter-pattered from the distance behind him. As he ran more and more, it got louder, turning from faint slithers of noise to an assortment of marches sounding in different rhythms. Shine didn’t look back, but his heart quickened and he continued running. As Shine finally saw the border that separated the town from the route, he sprang forward and sprinted, but his movements became erratic, no longer going in a straight line. The sounds of the Claws behind him went from marches to stomps as their paws slapped the floor. Shine still focused on his goal, not taking an eye off the gate.

“Night Slash!”

A hot streak of red tore through Shine’s leg, staggering him instantly. His face met the concrete. Without thinking, Shine clambered his way forward with his forepaws, but he only covered a few paces before a mass of paws grabbed him by his uninjured leg. They spoke amongst themselves, all understanding obscured by a cacophony of dozens of mewling voices, and dragged him into the darkness of the alleyway.

“Right guys, I wanna good look at his mug!”

Shine tried to squirm away, however, many sets of paws pinned him down, only giving him leeway to move his head and swish his tail. Another set of paws picked him up by his side and flipped him over, giving a full view of the Thousand Claws for him to see. Shine took a deep breath and prepared himself for their big reveal after all this searching.

It wasn’t quite a thousand, not even by a quarter, but it was still a lot.

A mix of shadows blended into one another, all shifting at the sides of the walls. Although he hadn’t adjusted to the dark immediately, one thing that stuck out to him was the stench, somewhere halfway between wet fur and rotten eggs, which made him gag. One look with his golden vision revealed all. Various cat Pokémon crowded around the sides, all marked with scars and fur discoloured with garbage and grime, sitting in formation around a Meowth. They looked the most battle scarred out of the group, with three massive orange streaks covering the face save for their eyes, two thin irises of bright blue. They sniffed around him, poking their nose in various places on Shine’s body, who was still pinned down by the gang before him.

“Say,” the Meowth said in a high pitched drawl, “Ya smell awfully nice, ya know. Not like us. We can’t getta decent place to bathe. We don’t even wanna lick ourselves clean, we’re that awful. But youze.” He coursed his calloused paws through Shine’s mane. “Youze is very smooth, and soapy. There’s only one type-a Pokémon that smells like that around here, izzat right?”

A few weak mewls came from the stray pack.

“So, where’s your trainer, huh? Seems like the kinda fella that has a lot of dough. Tell ya what, why don’t you walk us over to him, huh?”

Shine grunted, his leg still throbbing from the open wound. They were interrogating him over how nice he smelled, of all things. Why did Tony have to bathe him beforehand?

“Why does that matter to you?”

To that, the Meowth frowned and swiped a claw across Shine’s face.

“Did I say ya could talk back? Hell no, you don’t realise who you’re messin’ with! This is our turf!”

More mewling came from the circle.

“Come on, least you can do is tell us!”

“He’s nowhere near this town.”

The Meowth tugged on Shine’s mane, pulling him closer to his face to the point Shine could smell his decay-ridden breath.

“Whaddya mean, he’s nowhere near this town? What’re you doin’ here then, huh?”

“That means I have nothing to offer you. Now, if you let me go, I have places to be, forget the leg.”

“Like I said, that doesn’t tell me nuthin’! Don’t screw with me like--” The Meowth’s eyes widened and he let go of Shine’s mane. He held a paw close to his face and muttered to himself before turning to the rest of the pack, speaking in a chaotic chorus, and when he finally turned, the Meowth hissed at Shine, making every other member join him in unison.

“So you’re one of them, huh?” The Meowth threw another swipe at him, but instead of scratching, he punched, clocking Shine across his jaw. Shine groaned as the Meowth pulled him up by his mane again.

“You’re the kindsa Pokémon I hate da most, the kindsa Pokémon that act so high and mighty on their own, the kindsa Pokémon that think they can jus’ waltz anywhere they like without trouble! Ya wouldn’t be nuthin’ if it wasn’t for your trainer, you’re nuthin’ but a pet!”

Punch after punch flew across Shine’s head. He gritted his teeth, withstanding the blows and trying to find some other way out of the situation. Although he couldn’t move his body, his tail was still free, which was enough, and so he wagged it back and forth, charging up the static field around his body.

Shine released his charge, shocking everyone that restrained him, including the Meowth. The rest of the Claws let go, vibrating on the floor, and the Meowth stood, shaking rapidly. Without hesitation, Shine stood up and limped his way out of the alleyway, trying to run. His leg burned from the still open wound, but there was no time to think. He sprang towards the border, gritting his teeth as he focused on reaching Curio, bad leg or not.

The familiar sets of paws stomped behind him. He tried not to turn back as he got closer and closer, and finally, like Luccy said, plumes of smoke rose up into the night sky.

All at once, the Claws tackled him. A dozen sets of calloused paws smothered his back and dug into the skin. They hissed and growled, tearing new open wounds in various places around Shine’s body. With each new cut, he sent screams that echoed into the night. Each attempt at storing up electricity was interrupted with more flashes of pain. They stopped, pinning him down to the ground for their leader to stagger in front of Shine, blocking his view of the border, and the Meowth caressed the part of Shine’s face where his eye was missing.

“Ya know, I wonder what happened to that eye of yours.” If there was any hint of compassion in his voice, that faded away when the leader smiled and pointed a claw at his remaining eye.

“Don’t matter. Now you’ll have a matching set.”

No matter how hard he tried to free himself from his grasp, the other Claws held his head back too, preventing him from even tilting it. With no options left, Shine braced himself for the impact. The moment lasted a few seconds, but it felt like minutes to Shine. In that time, he reflected on the journey that brought him there so far, and how he ended up going from the comfort of Tony’s home to facing his death.

He was born in GeL, that much he remembered. He didn’t even have a name, or anything of the sort, rather, he was just a Shinx. He knew they had parents somewhere else, but he didn’t. No matter how much the other Pokémon born in GeL comforted him or how much the staff tried to get him to socialise with the other Pokémon, he left himself alone, curling up in a ball in his dormitory, sometimes refusing to eat. Then came Curio. Though he only remembered bits and pieces of their interactions together, something warm sparked inside of him whenever they did. Over the next four years, everything was fine, until they came along. The rest after that was a blur, up until the point Tony met him, as well as that car accident.

Would the news even reach Tony back home? Would humans find his body and report on it like the columns Shine read in the obituaries? Of course not. Millions of Pokémon died every day, maybe more. What would his death mean to anyone else except for Tony, his trainer, and Curio, another Pokémon? Would she find his body somehow? She was right over there while he was still pinned down. What was she doing? And finally, what truly happened at the facility that forced them to escape?

With all of these questions left unanswered, hot tears dripped down Shine’s fur, stinging his facial wounds.

A cloud of sugar and sweet tea wafted in the air. One whiff of it distracted him from his fate and brought back memories of the vineyard and all its familiar smells. He opened his eye, and all of the Claws in front of him, including the leader, turned their heads towards the border, sniffing at the air. One by one, the Claws wandered into the distance in a pack, and the Meowth took a few paces before he turned around with a wide smile on his face.

“Hey, hey, don’t forget him, we still gots business with him! Dat smell though...”

He joined the rest of the pack, cackling as he padded over to the source of the pleasant stench while a set of paws lifted Shine off his feet and slowly carried him. He shivered with all the cuts around his body, and he fell limply into the paws of his captors. His eye flickered open and shut. Everything in his system told him to sleep, but the thoughts of Curio kept him awake.

The rest of the trip continued like this, drifting between alertness and sleepiness, and eventually, Shine closed his eye for a moment and caught a wink of sleep.

* * *

  
**"They want us to name ourselves, or somethin’. I came up with one already, so what about you, huh?**   
  
  
**Nothing yet? You could talk to me if you want help with one.**   
  
  
**Okay, I’m gettin’ sick of this silent treatment! If you wanna be that way, fine, but I’m namin’ you anyway, something like, like...**   
  
  
**Shine! You’re Shine from here on out!** _**S-H-I-N-E.** _ **Got me?”**   
  


* * *

When he awakened to a glow of orange, there she was, standing in front of the fire. The Lucario with the metal arm. The Lucario that hung out with strangers at night. The Lucario that wrecked the crops in the vineyard. His old friend, Curio.  
  
“How’s it going, you _bastards_?” She presented a bag to the Claws that crowded around her feet. “This is what you’ve been lookin’ for, a bag full of catnip, silvervine and many other things to stuff your faces with!”  
  
She lowered it for a moment, and raised it back into the air when all the other Claws leaned against her legs, trying to nab their prize.  
  
“What’s this? You want it all, huh? Well, I guess I could hand it to you here, buuuuuuut...” She turned to the leader, who drooled in the bag’s presence. “I think you have somethin’ of mine you need to return first. So how ‘bout it?”  
  
The Meowth stared for a moment before slapping himself in the face, pulling him out of his catnip coma. “Yeah, yeah, sure, we ain’t had much use for him anyhow. So we’ll take the bag now and--”  
  
“Ah, ah, ah, one thing I forgot to mention, there’s something else you’ve gotta do before you earn this.” Her cheerful expression dropped. “Get outta this town and split up.”  
  
“What?” the Meowth exclaimed, pointing a claw towards her. “You’re on the freakin’ moon if you expect us to do that, this is our town! And what’s it to you, you don’t care about what we do anyway!”  
  
Curio absent-mindedly picked at her ears, holding the bag close to her. “Well, I guess that’s true in a way. I don’t care about what you do to get by, every Pokémon’s gotta fill their bellies somehow.” She gnashed her sharp teeth. “So far though, you guys have been like pests. And I’ve seen pests like you that’ve done less crappy things in the cities, and you know what happens to them?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“They get exterminated.”  
  
At that, the Meowth’s eyes widened and the pack took a few paces back behind her to join him.  
  
“W-what?”  
  
“You heard me. To the police, your kind are nothing but vermin. What’s the point of dealing with a bunch of stupid Pokemon like you who won’t listen to reason? They don’t care about your struggles. You don’t even have laws protectin’ your kind. So when someone finally gets off their ass here and comes to deal with the situation with all their Growlithe and Arcanine and whatnot, you know what’ll happen to you?”  
  
The Meowth stared at her, mouth agape.  
  
“Cat got your tongue? Okay, I’ll answer for you. They’ll char your bones to dust.”  
  
All of the Claws cowered before the leader, and the Meowth turned to the rest of his gang, conversing in shrill mewls, and commanded them to stand in formation around him, hissing at Curio.  
  
“Ya-ya can’t threaten us, who d’ya think you are, ya _dumbass_! My Claws will tear ya to shreds and--” He gasped as Curio held the bag over the fire.  
  
“Oh, I’m sorry!” Curio said in a mocking tone, leaning closer to the gang as the bag hung over the flames. “I don’t play that sort of game. Lay a finger on me or Shine and I’ll drop the bag! Just think of it. You’ll probably never get this chance again in your miserable lives, so I’ll give you two options. Leave us alone and never come back, or watch all of this burn! I can just picture it. You’d toss yourself into this fire just to get one more taste of this! So what’s it gonna be, huh?”  
  
The gang backed down again, and the Claws stood motionlessly alongside their leader.  
  
“Come on, I ain’t got all night. Oh! Maybe you need something to motivate you. How’s this, then?”  
  
Curio stepped back and outstretched her metal arm towards the group, giving them a full view of the palm of her hand which had a red spot in the middle of it. The gang kept their eyes tracked on the movement of her hand as she aimed it at them, until the red spot opened like a gate, revealing its metallic insides. Then, a blue ball of energy grew from the inside of it. The gang behind the Meowth screamed at the sight, backing further and further away from their leader, who looked as though he would collapse.  
  
“Wanna see what this arm can do?”  
  
The Meowth hyperventilated and fell on his knees, holding out both his paws in front of him.  
  
“Okay, okay, okay, I’ll bite, we’ll take the bag and leave, jus’ stop whatever you’re doin’! Stop!”  
  
The sphere disappeared and the hole in her hand closed over.  
  
“There,” she said with a toothy grin. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”  
  
She threw the bag to the ground, revealing a pile of other tiny bags of powder, flowers and colourful looking fruits, and in an instant, the gang poked their heads into the bag and left one by one, heading towards the forest. Eventually, the group that held Shine let go as well, dropping his limp body on the grass as they joined the rest. The Meowth was the last to join, who retrieved a silvervine fruit and cupped it in his paws. Before he left, he scowled at Curio.  
  
“I thought you was crazy for a Pokemon, or even for somethin’ like a human, but you’re not even that! You’re an it!”  
  
Just like the rest, the Meowth ran towards the route and disappeared into the night, but not before Curio flipped the Skarmory behind their backs, blowing a Razzberry.  
  
A moment passed between them. Shine kept silent, not knowing what to say, and Curio cast a glance at Shine’s direction. It came back to him. Her green eyes glowed in the dark, like they always did, and even the new scar across her muzzle didn’t blemish her face. It was the first time they made eye contact in five years. That moment of serene silence broke as Curio burst into laughter.  
  
“Wow, I can’t believe that actually worked! Just goes to show how stupid they were, huh? So, what’s cookin’, Shine?”  
  
His vision faded as the stinging sensation of his wounds got to him at last. Curio bent over, putting her paw behind his head.  
  
“Oh crap.”  
  
Before he could say anything to reassure her, Shine fainted.


	4. Dendemille's Dancer

“ **Hey Shine! Why doncha read me one of those stories from the book Mama gave me?”**  
  
“ **What, right now?”**  
  
“ **Right right now, pretty please!”**  
  
“ **Alright. I guess we should start with the first one. Fittingly called Part the First. Ahem.**  
  
**Once, trees grew from blood-soaked soil. After the gods slept, man and Pokemon fought against one another, killing millions, and only then, did their blood mix into the land. From there, they tried to co-exist, but did not entirely mix. Pokemon still could not fully understand man. Language and logic was separate, and so, their worlds remained separate, or so they thought.**  
  
**In one corner of the earth, a human couple took one lonely egg from the mountain and kept it warm in their cottage. They could not bear children of their own, as the woman was infertile, however, after the egg hatched into a Bonsly, they took care of it as their own. Despite its nature, they adapted by airing out the cottage whenever possible, as Bonsly could not stay too damp, or else, die. Even when forced to hunt Pokemon to sustain themselves for the day in their rickety abode, they spent every other second looking after the Pokemon, so much so, the villagers grew distant from them.**  
  
**At first, it only spoke in cries and moans. After spending a prolonged amount of time with them, however, they uttered their first word in the human tongue:** _ **love**_ **. A word abstract and immaterial to most Pokemon, but felt all the same by this one. Although this surprised the two, they welcomed Bonsly with open arms and passed their knowledge down to him, but nevertheless, remained cautious, and warned them to keep silent outside. The idea of Pokemon speaking human, for one thing, was an affront to nature, as it was not by the white god’s design, which scared the settlers within their village. Beyond that, it was said that if Pokemon were allowed to speak, they would show themselves as the dominant species and break the great chain of being, and bring chaos unto the world.**  
  
**By the time the Bonsly evolved into a Sudowoodo, sprouting to double its size, they could converse fully with their surrogate parents, and would question the world, their own existence, and everything both infinitely large and infinitesimal. Although they couldn’t answer, the Sudowoodo’s curiosity was boundless. They desired to explore the world at large, to see that giant ball of fire sink into the sea, to see campfires shine brilliant lights in empty woods, and to see flares shoot into the sky from wayward ships for Dragonite to drag to safety.**  
  
**Despite their wishes, their surrogates would not allow their leave. They could not enforce it, only persuade against, and so, they obeyed, for the moment. While they slept, the Sudowoodo ventured outside and talked to the villagers, who reacted with ire and commanded their Pokemon to attack. They hid in plain sight by turning into a tree, allowing their escape. Once they returned home, however, their cottage was in flames. Their surrogates kneeled down in front of the chief, who summoned a pair of Houndoom at their feet from their binding spell, ready to attack. The Sudowoodo charged through the mob to meet their surrogates and pleaded with the chief, begging them to leave their loved ones alone. The chief only saw something unnatural, and commanded the Houndoom to fire. The Sudowoodo caught alight, in front of their parents who taught them the very thing that destroyed their home. Before they burned out completely, through the flames, the Sudowoodo stood in the middle of the mob's circle and spoke thus.  
**  
_**“You came with your swords, torches and predators, I came with my human tongue. I might be the first to speak your language, but I will certainly not be the last. These words will spread on like wildfire even after I burn out.”**_  
**  
They turned to ash, as did their surrogates, and so, the village moved on while the cottage’s remains laid still. The two Houndoom, however, learned to understand their master, and devoured them before fleeing that land, roaming the wild away from human civilization.”**  
  
“ **Well, that was kinda depressing, but kinda cool too, like she used to tell me! Can we read the next page?”**  
  
“ **Go on. We have time before our next lesson.”**  
  
“ **Thanks. I could listen to you read for ages, you know.”**  
  
“ **Hm, I guess that’s a good thing.”**

* * *

A white light shone into the space and soon enough, Shine’s paws touched the floor once again as everything came back to him: the Claws that tore at his body, the air that smelled of sugar, and Curio. She stood to his right with her arms crossed, looking at one of the nurses, except it clearly wasn’t Nurse Joy if the pink stubble was anything to go by.

_“Well,”_ Curio said in her distinct human tongue, _“We free to go now? You’ve kinda been keepin’ me here all night, with no good movies or anythin'. The entertainment's really weak here, you know.”_

“Um, okay," the male nurse said, "but everything looks fine, and his leg’s healed up now, so go for it.”  
  
 _“Awesome.”_ Curio headed out of the treatment bay through to the main hall with her satchel bag in tow, as Shine followed after her. His leg no longer burned when he applied pressure on it, but he shambled out of the room to try and catch up with her, eventually walking by her side. The sunlight beamed in from the windows at the entrance bay, so he must’ve been there the whole night.  
  
Shine’s heart pumped rapidly. He was finally alone with Curio and could ask about what happened at GeL and how she got on since then, but when he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out, even though his questions lingered on. Curio didn’t respond either, walking out of the Pokémon Centre into Dendemille’s daylight, and only when they were out, Curio stopped and turned to face Shine for the first time.  
  
“Um, Curio?” he said.  
  
“Yeah, it’s me,” she said with a frown, and knelt down to his level. “So, do you mind telling me what the hell you were thinking last night?!” She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him violently.  
  
“I, uh, I was looking for you, I heard—”  
  
“Yeah, I know that much. Barley said you went snoopin’ around, and that’s fine and all, but letting yourself become that Meowth’s ransom shouldn’t have been on your to-do list! So I’ll ask again, what were you thinking?”  
  
“Um.” He pieced together last night’s events quickly under Curio’s gaze, and remembered he ran into the streets when he heard of her whereabouts, therefore leading him to the gang of diseased cats of his own accord. Finally, he let out a defeated sigh.  
  
“Sorry, what I did was stupid. I looked for you all day and found nothing, so when Luccy told me, it must’ve gotten to my head. I had no excuse.”  
  
“You idiot.” She looked scornful for a moment, then burst into laughter and wrapped her arms around Shine’s body. “Stupid, crap for brains, idiot.” She leaned in closer to Shine to the point where the tip of her spike touched his chest. Somehow, he trusted her enough not to impale him.  
  
“Oh sunshine, it’s good to see you again.”  
  
That nickname came back to him, as he suddenly remembered Curio used it on him during the facility days. He smiled and stood on the tips of his hindpaws, joining her embrace.  
  
“And you. I don’t even know where to start. Are you alright with that arm? What were you doing all this time? How did you end up here? Why—"  
  
"Oh c'mon, we'd be sitting here all day if I told you everything." Curio released Shine and the two made eye contact again. "Besides, I've got places to be."  
  
"You do?"  
  
"Yeah, nothing important, so let's just walk and talk for now. That’ll be a surprise for later.” Curio stood and led the way as Shine followed by her side.  
  
Again, he was at a loss for what to say. He glanced at a few of the passers-by on his side, who was surprised to see they paid no attention to the two strutting Pokémon, and in general, the citizens were less downcast and more eager to smile. Then he remembered how apprehensive they were around him when the Thousand Claws still inhabited the city and how Curio drove them out. That was a good place to start.  
  
“Sorry you had to drag me to the Pokémon centre,” he said, “I wish we met under less desperate conditions.”  
  
“Well,” Curio said, “Them’s the breaks, I guess. Hopefully we won’t have to deal with those guys ever again. Hopefully.”  
  
“You mean you don’t know?”  
  
“Eh, they’re slower than a buncha Slowpoke in a race, but I’m sure they get the hint.”  
  
“Still, it’s amazing you knew exactly what to do.”  
  
“Wanna know something even more amazing? I didn’t know. That was just a fluke as far as I’m concerned.”  
  
“But—”  
  
“Anythin’ could’ve gone wrong. What was stopping them from just pouncing on me and killing me to take the bag right away, huh?”  
  
Curio stuck her tongue out.  
  
“They were so damn annoying. I couldn’t find a place to sleep at night the first few days I was here. Even the police were on my tail even though I didn’t do jack. I shook ‘em off eventually, but before that, it was mostly rough sleeping, more than any other city I’ve been to in this region, ‘til I found Barley.”  
  
“Well.” He looked up at her. “I’d love to hear it all someday. It sounds like you’ve been on so many adventures already.”  
  
The disgust flushed itself from Curio’s face and she flashed Shine a toothy grin.  
  
“You bet. My weeks beat most people’s years, both humans and Pokémon.”  
  
“Including jumping off of Jubilife Tower, apparently?”  
  
“Eh, long story, but hey, we’re here!”  
  
Curio stopped outside a glass window with the silhouette of a Pikachu on a sign nearby. They opened the door with a bell ringing past them. As Shine walked in, he sniffed at the different scents of coffee beans, cheese and buttermilk wafting from the kitchen, and his stomach rumbled. He hadn’t eaten since his excursion to the inn the night before.  
  
“Hold on just a second,” Curio said, “They’re upstairs.”  
  
“They?” Shine added.  
  
A uniformed girl dashed out from behind the counter, and a Pikachu bounced behind her.  
  
“Sorry,” she said, “I’ve gotta run! Have fun!”  
  
The Pikachu gave a shrill cry of goodbye as the girl exited the cafe, then turned to the two patrons and bounced up and down on the floor near Curio’s legs.  
  
“Curio!” he said, “Continuing lesson, yes?”  
  
She nodded. Pikachu glanced at Shine briefly and scurried behind Curio, poking his head out with a perplexed look.  
  
"Never seen Pokémon like that before! What are you?"  
  
"A Luxray. My name is Shine. It's nice to meet you, fellow Pikachu."  
  
"Ooh, Shine! Shine! Love that name!" Pikachu skittered across the smooth floor and climbed on top of the counter again, disappearing behind the workspace. Shine looked around the yellow painted insides of the cafe, marked with all sorts of scribbles on the walls, and the locals were focused on themselves, ignoring the presence of the Pokémon there.  
  
"Nice place," he said.  
  
"Eh."  
  
Shine followed Curio to the counter where a tanned pudgy man leaned behind it, waving at her with a hairy arm.  
  
“Ay!” he said, “What’s the plan for today?”  
  
 _“Same as before,”_ Curio said. _“Say, can you fix up somethin’ for my friend here?”_  
  
The man peered over the bar and looked down to Shine, moustache twitching.  
  
“Maybe, but that depends if his kind is lactose intolerant.”  
  
 _“Actually,”_ Shine said, _“I’ve had plenty of dairy myself and I can safely say I’ve never had any problems with it.”_  
  
The man gave him a wide smile. “Just my luck, another one! Barley knows how to pick ‘em!” He stopped to lift the bar stand and waved at the two, disappearing into the hissing coffee machines. Shine followed Curio into a barren looking break room with a low cut table in the middle and a small bed filled with plushes in the corner where Pikachu sat, and he joined Curio on the floor opposite the yellow rodent.  
  
“So you’re a teacher?” Shine said.  
  
“You’re givin’ me too much credit, you know. I just go wherever Barley has work for me, talk to the Pokémon for a bit and get a day’s grub out of it. I’d rather just be doin’ my own thing, but eh, it beats hunting to get by.”  
  
“I know the feeling.”  
  
The two chatted idly until the pudgy man stomped in with a basket of croissants and laid them at the centre of the table, where the Pikachu jumped up to the edge.  
  
“I’ll get some water too!”  
  
The man left the three Pokémon to their breakfast. Pikachu immediately tore into it, leaving a mess of flakes on the surface, while Curio took a few paws worth of croissants and laid some on the floor beside Shine while she attended to hers. When Shine nibbled at the tip of his croissant, he bit into a layer of creamy cheddar. He looked over to Curio with a wide eye.  
  
“This is stunning!” he said as she held hers out.  
  
“Right? I couldn’t have picked a better place to teach if I tried!” She took a big bite out of one end and pulled back, making a string of cheese dangle from the middle of the pastry.  
  
After Shine finished eating every last morsel of croissant he could and drank his fill from a bowl, he was full again. He yawned and felt satisfyingly tired; with the tingle of cheese still on his tongue and the sweet smells drifting in from the kitchen, he could have curled up into a ball and slept on the spot right there.  
  
Before he lost himself in his reverie, Curio’s knuckle rapidly rubbed at his head.  
  
“You’re one sleepy bugger, aren’t you?”  
  
“What does a creature like me usually do after it’s had a nice meal? It’s only natural.”  
  
“Eh, excuses. You know, you could leave if you don’t wanna stick around.”  
  
“Not after finding you. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Of course, he hadn’t told her about his plans to start teaching the Goodra back at Ambrette, but he put it aside for another occasion when he could speak to Curio about how he came to find her.  
  
“Suit yourself.” Curio shrugged and turned to Pikachu. _“So, been trainin’ recently?”_  
  
Pikachu tapped his rosy cheek with a thoughtful expression, and opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated, then opened it again.  
  
 _“Little. Trainer young.”_  
  
 _“Is she even allowed to do that yet?”_  
  
 _“No. Out school. Sometimes, train alone.”_  
  
 _“What do you usually get to battle?”_  
  
 _“Street Pokemon. I battle. Mostly lose.”  
  
“It ain’t easy when you’re starting out.”_  
  
 _“Feel small. Em...”_  
  
Pikachu stopped, scrunching up his soft, round face.  
  
 _“Em-beer-ess-in.”_  
  
 _“Em-barr-ass-ing,”_ Shine chimed in. _“It’s pronounced embarrassing.”_ Pikachu gave Shine an unsure look, to which Curio leaned in and spoke in his ear.  
  
“I’m not too hung up on that stuff yet,” she said. “Just let him speak as well as he can and he’ll get it right over time.”  
  
“But—”  
  
Curio pulled away from him and continued her conversation, the start of many to come. In the span of a few hours, they talked about things such as what Pikachu’s to-be trainer did outside of school, what his relationship was with her father, also the owner of the cafe, what friends Pikachu made out in the town square, how he started using Curio’s teachings to impress said friends, and a story about how Pikachu ended up being chased by a Purrloin at night and lived to squeak about it another day.  
  
What Shine noticed about the way Curio spoke to her student was how she would let them go uninterrupted without correcting them for ages, despite their many odd pronunciations and grammar mistakes. Although he had the urge to interrupt, he suppressed it and thought about how he would go on to teach the dragon horde later, occasionally asking Pikachu a few questions of his own.  
  
When the shift was over, Curio stood up and said her goodbyes to Pikachu as she exited out the back and Shine followed after her into the sunlight. They walked out of the alleyway as Curio dribbled a can down the road.  
  
It was past noon and Shine still had a whole day and a bit left to get Curio to come back to Ambrette with him, which seemed harder the longer he hung out with her. She had a life in Dendemille, as she appeared to do well as a teacher, had built a reputation with the townsfolk, either positive or negative, and found plenty to do despite the town’s rurality. Not once did she mention GeL during that whole talk.  
  
“Fancy goin’ down the park later?” Curio asked, interrupting his thoughts. “There’s supposed to be a band there. It's free!"  
  
“We could, but I need to tell you something important.”  
  
Curio kicked hard, sending the can flying into the air which landed in the distant streets.  
  
“Oh boy, here we go. Out with it, then.”  
  
“It’s about how I got here. Doesn’t it seem odd to you that I just happened to be in Dendemille the same time as you?”  
  
“Not really. Could’ve just been complete coincidence as far as I care.”  
  
“Well, it was no coincidence. I saw you got into a bit of trouble with those Claws in the news.”  
  
“Yeah, and?”  
  
“I was in Ambrette Town at the time. As soon as I read what happened, I flew into Dendemille to try and find you.”  
  
Curio stopped short of entering the road where cars passed by, and knelt down to Shine with a questioning look.  
  
“You don’t have wings, do you?”  
  
“No, but I looked all day to find you and--”  
  
“Just cut to the chase, Shine.”  
  
“Oh, I,” he stammered. “My trainer’s doing research on the GeL facility and we need to interview you all the way back in Ambrette.”  
  
At that moment, Shine saw that look in her eyes for the first time in years, the way her pupils dilated, making them look as if they were lost in a sea of green. It was the first time since they reunited that Curio looked visibly fearful. Not even the confrontation last night stirred her. She exhaled, as if she was about to say something, but set her eyes back on the road, wordless. With that, he realised he just crossed a line. His approach might have been too direct, or that he essentially asked her to travel half the region with him unannounced, or that he reopened old wounds just with the mere mention of the word ‘GeL’, but for whatever reason, the fingers on her metal arm twitched mechanically, clicking with each micro-movement, then abruptly stopped.  
  
“Crap.” Her tone was flat and raspy. “I knew you were going to say that. Was that what you came here for, then, to dig up the past?”  
  
“Absolutely not!” Shine protested. “I couldn’t believe my eye when I saw you alive. After everything that happened, all I wanted to know was how you were doing all this time.”  
  
“Oh really? Do you even remember the time we spent there, all the times I looked after your scrawny _ass_ , and the times you read to me in the library, and all that other stuff?”  
  
“Why, I- I..” He faltered to find the right words. What Curio talked about did happen, but he only remembered those crucial moments in broad strokes, except for reading that book that previously belonged to her mother. “Some parts. My trainer--”  
  
“Yeah yeah, I guess your trainer told you to come here and drag me over to him, huh? Just like any good Pokémon following its orders.”  
  
“I, um...” Shine’s maw hung open. He knew Curio would be a little apprehensive to revisit her past, but this came out of nowhere.  
  
“Shine, I need a moment alone. Meet me at that park later. Don’t follow me.”  
  
“Wait!”  
  
Curio stepped into the road, passing through two lanes of cars that stopped suddenly in a cacophony of honks, with drivers shouting obscenities at her from open windows as she yelled equally vulgar insults at them in their tongue. Shine was about to run after her when the traffic continued, leaving him at that side of the road while Curio disappeared down the other. He was alone again.  
  
For the next hour or so, he wandered aimlessly through the streets in the hopes he’d eventually stumble across Curio, but like yesterday, the streets were sparsely populated, and the townsfolk and their Pokémon drifted in and out with indifference. His thoughts bubbled, thoughts of what he should have said, what he shouldn't have said, the way he said them, all stewing in a cauldron of blame and self pity. His movements slowed and at a certain point, he stopped, ignoring the passers-by.  
  
What stung the most was how suddenly it all happened, from Curio's transformation to her disappearing in seconds. He didn't know how the years changed her or how she moved on GeL, but he didn't expect for her to immediately reject his idea. He replayed the conversation back in his head, going back to the moment before Curio took off, then his eye widened. She not only said that, she also referred to Tony as ‘him’. Shine continued walking, not paying attention to whoever was beside him. Why would Curio assume his trainer was indeed a he if Shine himself never said anything of the sort? There were three explanations. It was either coincidence, the power of her aura, or even worse, she had somehow met Tony before. How?  
  
A weight dropped on Shine’s back. He grunted, fumbling around for a bit before regaining his balance, and something tugged on the tufts of his back.  
  
“Hey eye-guy!” It was the Quilladin from last night.  
  
“Hello,” Shine said, shaking his shoulders, “Would you mind getting off of me?”  
  
“Mush, eye-guy, mush!” He pulled on his fur, making Shine thrash around in an attempt to shake him off. Before him, the familiar barbed tail swished in the air, meaning Barley had come along too, perched on the shoulders of his trainer, who stared at his phone.  
  
“You don’t want to be zapped, do you?” Barley said with a wink. The weight lifted off of Shine’s back and Quilladin scurried away beside the trainer’s legs.  
  
 _“What are you all doing here?”_ Shine said, in human tongue in case the trainer had something of note to say.  
  
 _“Curio told us there was someone playing at the park soon,”_ Barley said, _“We weren’t that busy so we thought, why not?”_  
  
 _“I don’t suppose she said anything else, did she?”_  
  
Barley shook his head. _“She left. Again, she goes where the wind takes her. So I take it you managed to find her?”_  
  
 _“Yes, last night. She won’t talk to me now, though. I must’ve upset her somehow.”_  
  
“Well,” Quilladin chimed in, “You better come along with us and give us the spicy details!”  
  
Shine blinked. He was heading to the same place as them, and at that point, his legs were somewhat tired from dashing from place to place in vain.  
  
“I suppose.”  
  
He joined the group, following behind Barley and his trainer along with Quilladin who walked by his side. The two partners chatted to each other in human tongue, mostly about club matters, managing donations and partly about the local events the trainer found on the news. Although Shine couldn’t tell how Barley came to learn to speak human, he was fairly fluent at it, although it was hard to tell what they were saying sometimes as they used a lot of lingo such as _‘homie’_ to address each other. If he had to guess, his trainer probably taught him himself, though he wasn’t certain.  
  
“Hey,” Quilladin said, turning Shine’s attention away from the two. “So what’s troubling ya?”  
  
Shine moaned, thinking about how to phrase what happened. Even though GeL was the part that triggered Curio, he didn’t want to tell anyone else about its existence yet. Again, he had to settle for a convenient half-truth.  
  
“I asked her if she wanted to come back to Ambrette with me and my trainer, but she seemed really upset about the fact I was with one in the first place.”  
  
“Eh, chicks,” Quilladin said, “To be fair, she wasn’t too friendly with Barley’s trainer either. The vibe of the room got really awkward when those two first talked, but they’re fine now, so I dunno.”  
  
Shine hummed to himself. It wasn’t surprising for her to be apprehensive towards humans, as he did when he first left. He looked in front of him and noticed the absence of a certain stick in the tail.  
  
“Where’s your friend?”  
  
“Whaddya mean?”  
  
“The Delphox.”  
  
“Bleh.” Quilladin squinted his eyes, baring his chipped fangs. “We’re not friends anymore. He thinks he’s all fire just because he can win a human’s game.”  
  
“Ah, that’s unfortunate to hear.” It would’ve been more accurate to call Quilladin a sore loser, if that flipped table was of any indication, but Shine thought of saying otherwise.  
  
They reached the park which had a full crowd this time with a mix of mostly young trainers and Pokémon sitting beside each other on the grass, and the stage had musical equipment set up, although the band members weren’t present yet. When Shine went to sit with his group, he was surprised to see both the Pikachu and Leafeon together. He called over to them and the two scurried over to him, with Pikachu in particular pouncing on him, and licking his face, who couldn’t help but laugh.  
  
“You’re tickling me, stop!”  
  
Pikachu complied and Shine stood up again, looking at the two Pokémon. He questioned whether or not it was habit in Dendemille for Pokemon to pounce onto each other.  
  
“I guess Curio told you to come here as well.”  
  
“Bingo,” Leafeon said, then cocked her head. “As well?”  
  
Shine turned his head to the other group, who were stood up. Pikachu looked up and beamed at the sight of Barley, who glided off his trainer’s shoulder and joined claws with the electric rodent as the rest sat down.  
  
After that, the group talked idly for what seemed like ages during the waiting period. Leafeon talked mostly about her situation with the caretaker, Pikachu talked about Curio’s lesson with Barley, who relayed it back to his trainer, while Quilladin revealed his situation to Shine: his trainer was taking care of family matters out of town, whereas he chose to stay with Barley for a little bit while the dust settled. Plus, a little bit of unsuccessful flirting from Quilladin to Leafeon. Although Shine talked little about himself, listening to the others distracted him from his own head space and softened the blow of Curio’s sudden leave.  
  
The band counted in and the music started with a strong drum beat. It was nothing special as it was just generic rock, not even something he’d consider putting on the radio, but it was quiet enough to talk over, yet loud enough to enjoy. In the middle of the first song, Curio appeared from behind the bushes.  
  
She made her way to the crowd, who swayed back and forth to the music, and started jumping in place, which eventually broke out into a dance. The crowd steered clear of her, obviously not wanting to get accidentally impaled, forming a circle around her. She didn't pay attention to the onlookers, or the little Pokémon that joined her jig by her feet, as she was occupied in her own world.  
  
Seeing this play out in front of him, Shine forgot his present worries for the moment and couldn't help but smile. Curio was enjoying herself and didn't care what others thought of her. Shine felt a tinge of envy at this, as he wouldn’t have drawn attention to himself that way, and couldn't have danced even if he wanted to since he wasn’t bipedal.  
  
He shook his head. Shine had more pressing issues to take care of. He needed to find out why Curio left him behind earlier and why she brought all the Pokémon to the park.  
  
"She's got some moves, hasn't she?" Leafeon said.  
  
"Er, yeah, sure," Shine said as he stood up. "I need to talk to her, I'll be back."  
  
"I'll come with," Quilladin said.  
  
"Me too!" Pikachu said.  
  
The three joined the crowd and pushed past their legs to where Curio was. When they arrived, Quilladin joined inside the circle and mingled with the other Pokémon while Pikachu danced in place.  
  
“Hey!” Shine called out to Curio as she spun in place. She didn’t stop.  
  
“Curio!” he shouted. She spun around and smiled.  
  
“Oh Shine!” she said. “C’mon, dance!”  
  
“But-”  
  
Curio picked him up by his forepaws and jumped around. His movements were unsteady, barely keeping himself balanced on the pads of his paws as Curio jerked him up and down.  
  
“Why’d you bring us here?” he said.  
  
“What?”  
  
“I said, why’d you bring us here?!”  
  
“Sorry!” Curio said with a grin, “Still can’t hear ya!”  
  
“Dammit Curio!” he shouted, “I know you can read my thoughts, just tell me what’s going on!”  
  
The song ended. Curio stopped her dance, letting go of Shine, and frowned.  
  
“Jeez, you’re a downer today. Alrighty, lead the way.”  
  
Shine ran back to his earlier spot and the rest followed behind him as the concert continued in the background. Everyone was seated around Curio.  
  
“That was amazing!” Pikachu said, who could barely sit down. “Can we do that again?”  
  
Curio patted his head.  
  
“After we deal with this guy.” Curio turned to Shine, stone faced and serious.  
  
“Fight me.”  
  
“E-excuse me?”  
  
“You heard me. Fight me. If you win, I’ll come along with you and do your stupid interview.”  
  
“It’s not stu--”  
  
Curio raised her paw to stop him.  
  
“If I win, I get to stay here. You got that?”  
  
It took him a few seconds to realise what this meant, and when he did, it felt as if something hard had smacked Shine across the face.  
  
“But, but that means I might never see you again!”  
  
“Sure you will. I might get into a scrape or two after that and be in the news again. Who knows, I might make it on the front page someday! You’ll find me that way!”  
  
“That’s not the point! I didn’t come here to see you for the first time in ages only to have you disappear!”  
  
Curio revealed her fangs. She narrowed her eyes, her left twitching as if it had a mind of its own.  
  
“Yeah, now you know what it feels like, Shine! It sucks, doesn’t it?”  
  
“Ooooh!” Quilladin exclaimed.  
  
He was at a loss for words. He could tell Curio was furious at him, but he couldn’t pinpoint the reason why, as the memories of his escape were still fuzzy, except for the aftermath.  
  
“Hey Pikachu, what’s your face?” Quilladin chimed in. “Can you go get us some popcorn? I’m enjoying this lover’s quarrel.”  
  
“In your dreams!” Both Curio and Shine said in unison. She laughed, and her expression lightened up a bit.  
  
“That’s my only offer, Shine. Besides, there’s a battle park right by us. I’ve already got a spot for us to fight in when the third bell strikes.”  
  
“You have?”  
  
“Lots of people will be watchin’ too. I practically asked the whole town.” She turned to the spectators who sat in stunned silence, especially Barley’s trainer. _“So basically, if you haven’t been clued in, we’re fightin’ in that park, and you and every Pokemon are coming along to watch, kay?”_  
  
“We are?” all of them said.  
  
 _“Yup, just so you can pick sides. Any one of you can be Team Curio or Team Shine. Preferably Team Curio.”_  
  
“This is silly,” Shine said. “What is this supposed to prove?”  
  
“Nothin’. But you can always run with your tail between your legs if you don’t want to face me. What’s it going to be, Shine?”  
  
Shine gazed at her with a wide eye. There wasn’t once lick of irony in her tone or expression; she was really prepared to take every measure to put him in a difficult spot.  
  
He gave himself a moment to process what he was about to do. He was about to enter in a fight with an old friend of his, with little explanation as to how or why she organised it, all in order for her to agree to his bargain. There was no way he would go back home empty handed, as his journey would’ve been for nothing. A part of him questioned how he would take her on considering she could read him like an open book, but when he decided what he would do, Shine presented his paw to Curio with a smile.  
  
“I’m in,” he said. Curio took his paw in hers and shook it firmly.  
  
“Awesome.” She let go. “Be there or be square.”  
  
Before Shine could ask her anything else, Curio left him and the rest of the gang behind, and Pikachu joined her to meet the crowd near the stage. When she started her dance again, Shine sighed and slumped to the ground.  
  
He felt there was a deeper motive behind her carefree attitude. The way she was so dismissive of Shine told him she was actively dodging the question, either not wanting to deal with the GeL situation or was vengeful against him for some unknown reason. There was so much he needed to know he didn’t get the chance to ask; how she got to Kalos was still a total mystery. However, if he wanted another chance to resolve those burning questions, he would have to defeat her in a fight, or lose his chance to recapture his past indefinitely. Shine took a deep breath. What had he gotten himself into?


	5. Dendemille's Brawlers

The band played the rest of their set, and while Curio and Pikachu still carelessly danced in the background, Shine had long since tuned out. He buried his head in his paws, deep in thought as he went over his potential battle strategy.

In terms of movesets, the two would be equally matched, as their types weren’t stronger than the other. If it was just a battle of rock paper scissors, he would have no issue, however, he was up against a Lucario. He was already handicapped from the start as he couldn’t wield the power of aura, and his golden vision was useless against a Pokémon that could read his mind.

Most importantly, he wasn’t up against just any Lucario, Shine was up against Curio, and although he only remembered bits and pieces about their matches in GeL, she always had the upper paw somehow, even before that metal arm of hers. No matter what strategy he could devise beforehand, that would surely be overturned in an instant, but then again, if this was life or death, she probably would’ve ended it there by impaling the opponent with her spikes. He would just have to see for himself what the odds were when the fight actually started.

His stomach tied itself together into knots. This was going to be one long day.

After the crowd applauded for what seemed like minutes, the band exited the stage, and the rest dispersed leaving only a few remaining, including Curio who conversed with Pikachu. Shine tilted his head to try and listen in, but before he could make out what they were saying, Curio stood up, gestured to Pikachu and left through the forestry. Shine stood too, and sighed. Going after them was a waste of time; he wouldn’t be able to negotiate with Curio even if he chased after her. He was going to have to wait until the match to meet her again.

Shine turned to his group, who all looked at him expectantly.

_“Is everyone going then?"_ he said.

_"Do we have the time for it?"_ he asked, to which the trainer nodded.

_"I guess it's only a quick match. We're in."_

"Well," Quilladin added in his own tongue, "It would be nice to see which ass ends up getting kicked. Count me in too."

"I could care less," Leafeon said, "But if it gets me away from that reeking farm, I'll shoot."

It was settled. The group made their way out of the venue and led Shine on the way to the battle park, talking little as they did so. They strolled through the same path Shine did before, which still had the scent of vanilla in the air, then took the familiar route to the town square, and ventured further into the city depths through a road which branched off into several junctions. Finally, they took the second one on their left, which led to the battle park.

Usually, the battle park consisted of dozens of spaces in the big cities where there were gyms and only one dozen in the towns. Dendemille was just as small, even smaller than that as there were only eight spaces. It was still huge however; a small battle park could’ve easily covered the size of a large stadium with many other facilities included other than the arenas. Although the population of a small park could easily reach the hundreds in their peak, when it approached evening, the numbers usually dwindled as a lot of arenas were left empty.

However, out of the eight, it was easy for Shine to pick out which one was his, and what he saw further tangled the knots in his stomach.

Dozens of people sat in the auditorium circling the arena. When Curio mentioned lots of people would be there, Shine could scarcely believe it, but when he saw it for himself, he realized how determined she was to pursue this battle. With each step he took, the crowd grew louder, and he was eventually faced off with the long, straight path that led to the arena. Who else would be there but Curio, doing various warmup stretches in the centre of the stage? Pikachu sat at the front row behind a fence, alongside several other Pokémon of various sizes he hadn’t seen before. He even saw Luccy staring intensely at the stage with his trainer, sharing a bucket of popcorn between them. The referee stood beside Curio, standing in for the other contestant to come in.

Shine’s heart pounded against his chest. Once he stepped into the arena, there would be no going back with so many people watching their match. He turned to his group who were all heading the other way to their seats, except for Barley who walked towards him.

“Well,” he said, “Me and my trainer wish you good luck. You’re certainly gonna need it.”

Shine couldn’t help but chuckle, releasing some of his pre-battle tension. “I guess so.”

Soon enough, they were gone too. Shine took a deep breath, and padded over to Curio as the audience watched him enter from afar. Try as he might have, Shine couldn’t ignore the presence of the crowd Curio gathered. The knots pulled taut. When he approached Curio, she didn’t look him in the eye, only staring at the referee, who looked back and forth between the two.

“Are your trainers with you?” he asked.

_“Who said I needed to bring a trainer with me?”_ Curio said.

“Ah, you talk," he said, stone-faced. "And what about this Luxray?”

_“Um, I left him at home.”_ The referee scratched his head before shrugging it off and turning on his speaker mic, making feedback echo in the arena.

“Trainers of all ages, we have a very unique match lined up for this slot. This is a one versus one match, but neither of these Pokémon are present with their trainers here. This isn’t the first time it’s happened in this park, so I’ve heard, but it’s been a while since we’ve gotten something like this.” He presented a slip of paper from his pocket.

“Going by an educated guess, this Lucario over here is named Curio, and this Luxray over here is named Shine. Since this is a special case, we might as well go over the rules.

“Since there is no way to calculate which moves you’ll be using, as you won’t be given commands, there is no limit to your moveset, assuming you have more than four. You two seem evenly matched, so I will deem this a fair fight scenario. First and most importantly, lethal hits are strictly forbidden.” Without taking an eye off the crowd, he gestured his arm to Curio’s side. “In your case, if you—”

_“Yeah yeah, no using my spikes, don’t waste your breath, you robot!”_ Curio shouted, making her voice known to the audience. There was a little bit of commotion in the crowd as a variety of different voices reacted to her outburst.

“Did that Lucario just insult him?”

“The nerve of that thing! A trainer oughta come down there and teach it some manners!”

“Yeah, Curio," Quilladin said, who had joined the front row along with the rest of the group, "You show that robot who’s boss!”

The announcer cleared his throat and continued.

“Secondly, this match will operate under a five minute time limit. Seeing how it’s one versus one, the fight should be fairly short anyway.”

The announcer paused. No quarrel came from Curio that time.

“Thirdly, no items are allowed to be used to heal yourself, act as a weapon or distract the opponents in any way. With that said,” again, he gestured to Curio, “Your bag counts as an item, and that alongside anything else in it will be confiscated during the match, so please put it to one side.”

Upon hearing this, Curio stomped over to where the announcer stood, shaking her fist at him.

_“You gotta be kiddin’ me!”_

“I’m afraid not. These rules are what separate a battle from a bloodsport, after all.”

_“But listen!”_ Curio reached into her bag, pulling out a crooked wooden bat, and pointed at him with it. _“Without this, my range is gonna be crap!”_

“You are able to use Bone Rush, aren’t you?”

“Nuh uh, now look!” A shaft of light came from Curio’s paw, and instead of the twin headed staff that usually materialised from a Pokémon in the form of a bone, all that came out was something the size of a cotton swab, which she shook at him. _“This is all I can summon! All this is useful for is picking the wax outta my ears!”_

The announcer squinted at it, but gave no other reaction.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, “No weapons, you play by the rules or not at all.”

_“Ugh, fine!”_ With that, Curio withdrew the bag and tossed the bag into the man’s face, going back to her spot in a huff. The man caught it before it could hit his head, and headed to the podium off the stage, grabbing his whistle.

“Now, the match will end when the first opponent faints and I announce it. If the timer runs out, the opponent with the least amount of damage will win and the next set of trainers waiting to play afterwards will be called in. Now, if you two could take five paces back--”

_“Excuse me,”_ Shine called, raising his voice a little, _“Can I have a word with Curio before the match starts?”_

“As long as you’re quick.“ With that, Shine approached Curio, who glared at him.

“Do we really have to resolve things this way?”

“There’s nothing else I wanna say to you right now. If you don’t like it, get bent.”

“Why, I’m, I’m—”

Curio raised a paw in the air, motioning over to the announcer, and she took her five paces back. Defeatedly, Shine followed suit, the words of Curio still stewing in his mind.

“Pokémon, ready.”

This was it. No matter what Shine tried to say to allay the situation, there was no way Curio would back down in this fight. A lump grew in Shine’s throat. He exhaled, then took a deep breath, readying himself by standing on the tips of his hindpaws. If Curio showed this much resistance, he needed to push back just as hard with all he had, if he was to get back to Ambrette with her and get a grip on his past. After everything Curio put him through so far, however, Shine briefly considered if all of his efforts were worth it.

Before he dwelt on those thoughts any longer, the whistle blew.

Curio immediately lunged at him with her arm. Just short of being grazed, Shine leapt backwards, avoiding the first swipe. Then the second followed. He barely dodged by ducking his head. Then the third. He had barely enough time to dodge as he rolled to his side. The hand pounded the ground, sending dust flying everywhere.

Without looking to see what happened, Shine ran from Curio’s range, running as fast as his legs could carry him to the other side of the arena. When the dust cleared, Curio was far away from him, but charged forward as soon as she recovered. Shine kept running, close along the fence, but the rushing of Curio’s paws became louder behind him. He couldn’t keep outrunning her. He had to make the first attack.

Shine made a detour to his left. He swished his tail around, charging up his static field, and the more he ran, the more his fur prickled. His electricity buzzed around him, acting like invisible armour, and at that point, he had stored enough potential to pull off a Volt Tackle. Shine turned and ran towards Curio, who stopped suddenly. She held her paw in front of her, firing a flurry of aura spheres at him. Most of them bounced off his field, but once he was close enough to her, all she could do was shield herself with her arm. Shine tackled her lower body, head first.

Bash. Curio flew across the arena, stopping short of hitting the partition that divided the crowd. The reaction was a mix of gasps and cheers.

Shine’s whole body shuddered with the recoiling force of his attack. At that point, however, the two were a fair distance away from each other. If he could land another hit with a thunderbolt close to Curio’s stomach, he could stagger her, taking her out of the match. He shook his head and started charging his static field again.

Curio rose to her feet. In no time, she lunged towards Shine again. He did not flinch. He focused his mind on where he would hit Curio, just below her spike. Just as his charge reached its limit…

“Come on, you coward, hit me with all you got! Don’t run out on me like last time!”

Curio’s sudden shrill scream rang in his ears. In his haste, he shot a thunderbolt, only for it to divert away from Curio’s body, and the ground absorbed the shock. He focused again, but Curio was already in arm’s reach, and by then, it was too late. With one well placed metal uppercut to his chest, it was a direct hit. It sent him flying in the air above the fence, and when he landed, he broke through an unoccupied bench far away from where the rest of the crowd was.

It hurt to breathe. Her hit must have broken at least a few ribs. All sound faded. All the charge he built up had released. His vision started to fade as well. Was he able to move at all? He twitched his legs. They were still mobile. One paw after another, he got to his feet. Although he could barely see, the yellow coat stood out in the background. He tried to hobble towards her from the other side. Then his legs gave away as well. What would happen next? He didn’t know. He succumbed to his weakened state and sank into the void of slumber.

\--- 

“ **C’mon, we’re almost there! We can do this, we can make it! Don’t stop for a second!”**

“ **I know, I can see it, I can see the door, I can-- Argh!”**

“ **Shine? Shine!** _ **You bastards, stop chasin’ us and leave us be! You won, you took everythin’ from us and crushed all our dreams already, just stop!”**_

“ **Curio. There’s too many of them. I can’t, I can’t stay here.”**

“ **Shut up! I don’t wanna hear it, we’ll make it outta here, both of us, we’ll take them all on! Don’t give up!”**

“ **I’m sorry. I, I, I...”**

“ **Wait, Shine! Come back here! You said! Shine!”**

–-

Shine wasn’t fully awake yet, but he knew he was back at the Pokemon centre if that springy bed and disinfectant smell was of any indication. A paw scratched his ear, making him purr, and the sensation he felt made him more content to go back to sleep. Suddenly, it tugged at him, and he opened his eye to the sight of Curio yanking at his head. It was nice to see that face when she wasn’t trying to attack him, but the relief faded when one memory from the day of the escape unlocked from his internal vault.

He remembered how much she cared for him, and stuck with him through thick and thin, even when he was a Shinx, even when he was taken advantage of, and even when he lost his other eye, and vice versa, when she struggled with making her sculptures, when she wanted something read to her, and when she went through personal troubles of her own. Even though it was in broad strokes, he felt the sentiment all the way to the present. All of that, and in the end, he left her behind. No wonder she was so upset at him. After all that searching, his journey led him to this path, where he carried the full weight of his actions for the first time in five years. This realisation brought mist to his remaining eye.

“I-I’m sorry Curio. I’m sorry I escaped without you back then; I don’t even realise how it happened, I only just remembered it now.”

“Shine,” she said.

“And I’m sorry for whatever else I did as well to anger you. And, and, I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to win in battle, and, and--”

Shine broke down. His cries echoed in the room, blubbering and choking on his own words.

“Oh, why am I being s-so s-s-stupid?” he stuttered in between sobs, “I shouldn’t be crying like s-some weak S-S-Shinx, but here I am!”

“Shine,” she said, scowling.

“No, it, it’s fine, you fought hard for your freedom. You shouldn’t let s-s-some other stupid Pokémon tie you down. Even if I f-f-followed you, I wouldn’t survive, I’m th-that weak, I’m—”

Curio smacked Shine across the face, snapping him out of his ramble, and grabbed his paw firmly.

“Jeez, Shine, the match was a dud! It didn’t even matter if you won or lost, so get a hold of yourself, mon!”

Shine stopped sobbing, still feeling the stream of tears pouring down his cheek.

“W-what? Then what was the point of this?”

“I dunno,” she said with a shrug, “I just wanted to let off some steam. I feel better now we’ve fought.”

“What now?”

“Nothing yet, we’ll see where the evening takes us.”

“Right.” Shine tried to jerk his paw away from Curio’s grasp, but she her grip pinned him down. Slowly, Curio picked him up, sitting him on his hindquarters so he could see the whole of the room he was in at last; a very small rehab room only meant for Pokémon to sleep and be checked up on occasionally by the nurse. Then, Curio sniffled, rubbing away a few tears of her own and wrapped herself around him, close enough for her spike to touch his chest again.

“Oh sunshine, it hurts seein’ you like this, callin’ yourself weak and junk. You always acted like that.”

“But, I am—”

“Stop that, I’m not having it. You travelled half this _damn_ region to see me, that takes balls.”

“But—”

“I know you’re thinkin’ it’s a small feat for us Pokémon, but it’s not. It’s no small feat we survived this long to see each other again. It’s no small feat we’ve been given these skills in the first place when many Pokémon don’t get the same chances. It’s no small feat you came without your trainer to see me alone. I shouldn’t hafta say it at this point, but all of those things make you worth more than just your fighting ability alone, so you better freakin’ own it.” Curio pulled away from Shine and gave a half smile. “Although if I’m being honest, you kinda sucked _ass_ back there.”

Even if it was less than flattering, Shine snickered at the comment. “Thanks, I guess.”

“You’re welcome. Now c’mon.” She stood up. “We’ve got a lot to catch up with and I’m not doing it in this stinkin’ room. See if you can get outta bed.”

Shine stretched his legs. When he leapt off the bed, a constricting pain grew in his chest and he groaned. Although everything had healed up, the part where Curio hit him still ached.

“Should I even be standing up?”

“The nurse said it’s fine. I know it’s painful now, but you won’t even notice it once you’ve gotten some rest later. C’mon, we haven’t got all night.”

Shine wordlessly agreed and followed her out of the room, out of the treatment bay, out to the exit and into the town square once more. Curio gestured to a patch of grass amongst a park-like area and the two sat next to each other, watching the various passers by. Shine alternated between the sight of the town nightlife and Curio’s face. Again, he was at a loss for what to say. With all the things that came back to him, where would he even start? Would he wait for Curio or start the conversation himself? Would he apologise first?

“If you want to start with that,” she said, nudging his side, “We might as well get apologies out the way.”

“I didn’t say anythi—” He stopped himself. Sometimes, it was easy to forget his friend could read his mind. Shine cleared his throat and made eye contact with Curio, seeing his own reflection in her green irises.

“I’m really sorry everything turned out the way it did. You have the right to be angry, and I should’ve stuck with you even when we ended up in a tough spot back then. I understand if you don’t forgive me after what happened.”

Curio rubbed her metallic arm with her paw and sighed.

“I won’t beat around the bush here, and I’ll use a human word to describe this, but what you did was _shitty_. I thought you said you wouldn’t have abandoned me, and that’s what ended up happening anyway.” Curio smiled and patted Shine’s shoulder. “But there’s nothing you could’ve done. Hell, you would’ve been stupid not to escape without me. I don’t even remember how many grunts showed up out of the blue at that moment. So I’ve made my peace with that.” Curio took her paw back and inhaled deeply, as if collecting her thoughts.

“I saw you back in Sinnoh, you know.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Jubilife City, to be exact. From far away, I noticed your aura and I must’ve ran like crazy to get to you, but when I finally saw you, you were already on the train with some—” Curio broke eye contact and clutched her arm. “Trainer. The one with curly hair and those nerdy glasses?”

“Tony.”

“Whatever. I wasn’t ready to let you go, so I hopped on the next train to chase you. I didn’t even know where to look, I travelled for days to try and find you, but I couldn’t pick up your aura anywhere. After a while, I just gave up, I guess.” She looked back at him with drooping eyes. “Where were you all this time? I got on without you just fine, you know, but suddenly, you pop out of nowhere and fall right into my paws. That’s gotta be some divine intervention crap right there.”

Shine didn’t respond immediately. He thought back to the conversation he had with her at noon before she left and remembered the odd feeling he got from Curio’s sudden outburst, and rested his head on his paws.

“I don’t know how to take this. If I had known you were there, I would’ve come rushing after you.”

Curio smiled weakly.

“I know. It still stinks though, like having something precious of yours ripped away from you and torn to pieces in front of you. Especially for you to go back on your word and become some trainer’s pet.”

Shine rose at the mention of the word ‘pet’, and when he processed exactly what Curio said, he glared at her.

“Is that what you think of me, then?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” She threw her paw up in defence. “Like, I thought you said you were gonna become this amazing scholar once you got out, or something like that. You had the drive for it. I just never pegged you as the type to follow some trainer around on his stupid quest to gain a bunch of trinkets.”

“You know nothing about what Tony’s done for me!” he shouted. That was the loudest he heard himself speak for a while, and it had its effect on Curio as she grew wide eyed. He could even feel his own heart quicken at his own words. “You know what happened when I escaped? I almost got killed. I’ve got my scar to thank for that, and after they healed me up, all I did was wait to die. Until he came, all I’d do was read in the library all day, dig through trash in the streets at night and sleep on the curb. I didn’t want to think about GeL, or even think at all, so all I did was waste away for about a year, until Tony came along, and even then, nobody forced me to be with him. Let’s just say I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for him, so Curio, please think twice before you throw him under the bus!”

Curio’s mouth went agape, seeming to reach some sort of understanding.

“I’m sorry,” Curio said in a flat voice. Then, silence. Shine continued to look at her, expecting her to say something back, but she turned away from him, lost in her own world yet again.

“It’s not easy making it on your own, especially not after what happened to us in particular. Tony supported me and pulled me out of that hole I dug myself into. Even with GeL, he’s the only person I actually talked about it with, and that was after years of knowing him. I thought you would’ve understood of all Pokémon.”

“No,” Curio said, turning back to Shine, rubbing away the dust in her eyes. “I know what you mean. At the beginning, I had to lock those memories away too in order to survive. Even so, I had nothing else to live for until a lot of trial and error. I won’t lie, I saw a lot of terrible things on my way here, the kind of stuff that would churn your stomach, and I sorta became numb to that after a while.” She smiled.

“But I saw a lot of amazing things on the way as well and met a lot of fantastic Pokémon, especially in Jubilife. I knew a Smeargle that had his works put up in a gallery back in Johto, like, you should’ve seen his paintings before he moved to graffiti, they’re amazing. He went through a lot of crap, but he pulled himself out of that hole eventually. Some made their own radio station, and I even met a few Pokemon that started their own band and played to other people. I’ll tell you that city is an _effing_ hive, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some talented peeps like us lurking in the shadows. Of course, there’s Barley as well, but you know him already.” She outstretched her metal arm and reflexively twitched its fingers.

“Either way, it’s not nice, you know, seeing other Pokemon stuck with trainers or in the wild all the time when they could be doing something bigger. You live long enough and you see the same sort of patterns. Even so, I hate the idea of giving myself up to someone else for the rest of my life, even if they are nice.” She clenched her fist.

“I’m never gonna be a part of that world or tie myself down to a trainer or anyone else. I don’t care if I’m just a Pokemon; my life’s my own to live, and if anyone of any species tries to say otherwise, well, they can suck it.”

“Well,” Shine said, patting Curio’s lap, “If you’re worried about Tony, I can assure you I’m not being mistreated at all. He practically lets me do anything I want while he’s out at work, and makes sure I’m well provided for when he’s back home, even after long hours. He doesn’t tie me down at all, so I’m sure even you would like him.”

Curio smiled and snaked her arm through Shine’s back, which was cold to the touch.

“I guess I would. I mean, I still think you could be doing better, but as long as you’re happy, that’s fine.”

Shine sat still for a moment, not knowing how to respond. Then Curio sighed.

“I guess I’ve been kind of an _ass_ today, haven’t I? Sorry for ignoring you all this time and making you go through that dumb fight.”

“No, no. It’s fine, seeing how I know why you felt that way. So, what do we do now?”

Curio pulled away from him, frowning.

“I dunno yet. I mean, it’s kinda like we’re meeting for the first time again after so long, ya know. You don’t even remember much about me, do you? I only recall bits and pieces myself, so I ain’t sure if what you have planned for me will be worth it.”

“Then why don’t we catch up? I still know how good it felt hanging out with you, all those times we’d sit together in the library, picking up different books for each other to read. I think you wanted me to read Sinnohan Myths and Fables at one point, that much I remember.”

“Like that story with the Sudowoodo? Ah, that brings me back. Well, there’s that, but besides, I don’t even know what this interview thing is for anyway. Is it like an interrogation where someone boxes me into a room and won’t let me leave until I answer all their questions?”

Shine shook his head. He then went on to explain the purpose behind the interview and what it would require from Curio, to talk about as much as Curio was comfortable to discuss or was able to remember, as well as the process of shooting the documentary as well, which would all be done in a casual environment in Tony’s studio space.

“I guess that doesn’t sound too bad.”

Before Shine could say anything else, Curio lay down and faced the sky with her back to the ground.

“Come sit on my lap, and watch the spike. I don’t wanna end up shishkebabing someone’s head like last time.”

“Like last time? That’s not very reassuring.”

“Eh, they were fine after so it was nothing serious. So will ya join me?”

He steadied himself and lied down so his head was on her chest, just short of being impaled. His mane made it a little difficult to budge, but eventually, he was lying down and staring at the night sky full of stars with Curio. He purred slightly as she stroked his belly where the tender, pink scar was.

“You said you lived in Ambrette Town if I remember. Funny. I bluffed my way into travelling from Canalave to Cyllage, which I’m sure was close, but I must’ve missed it, so I’ve never been there before. What’s it like?”

“Er, it’s only your regular coastal town.”

“Yeah, I know that much, but what is there to see?”

“Well, there’s the arcade, I guess, but families mostly visit it during the summer when it’s warm.”

“Yeah, and...”

“There are lots of galleries as well. I sort of remember you liked watching those films, so there’s the cinema as well. With your aura and all, I imagine you’d be able to sneak in without paying quite easily.”

“Which I have, lots of times, but it ain’t exactly unique. What else?”

“Well, there’s also the aquarium that’s free of charge right next to where my trainer works.”

“Alright, I’m coming with you.”

Shine got up and stared at Curio, who still laid on her back.

“You will? All because of an aquarium? You know what that is, don’t you?”

“Hey, course I do, but I’ve never been to one. And no, it’s not just because of that. It sounds like there’s enough new stuff for me to enjoy and see.”

“But what about your life here? I thought you had settled already.”

“Oh please, I’ve only been here two weeks tops, and I was starting to get sick of this place anyway. Not much here except for farmers and gangs that are dumber than a bag of rocks.”

“What about the other Pokémon I saw cheering you on? And what about Barley and the Pikachu you’re teaching? I’m sure they’ll miss you.”

“They’re just randos I met in the street one day. And both of them knew I was bound to leave some day. I don’t like to stay in one place forever if there’s more to discover somewhere else, especially not a hick town like this. Plus, the sea sounds nicer anyway.”  
“So, forgive me if I’m being selfish, but is that a yes to the interview?”

“I’m not really sure, but if that’s what it takes to catch up with you, then I’ll go through whatever crap your trainer puts me through. Wait a minute.” Curio tapped Shine’s side, giving him a puzzled look.

“How the hell are we gonna get back from here? Are we gonna have to walk or something?”

Shine also explained how he got to Dendemille in his first place and the situation he would be in immediately after he returned to Ambrette. When she heard that, Curio broke off into laughter, suddenly slapping Shine’s back.

“Look at you, getting in debt! When you said your trainer let you do whatever you wanted, I didn’t think he was that freewheeling!”

As if on cue, the two’s stomachs collectively growled.

“Oh mon, I guess it’s gotten pretty late, huh?”

“What are we going to eat?”

“Well,” Curio shifted from her seat and stood, offering a paw to him. “I better make my goodbyes now if I’m coming with you tomorrow. If Barley’s still at the Vine, I’m sure he’ll lend us a claw or two. Saves us having to hunt or steal.”

“They do dinner as well?”

“Sure they do. Now c’mon, are you with me?”

Shine smiled and returned Curio’s pawshake.

–-

It was the first time the two had entered the Pokeroom together, and their presence was delighted by those across the room from Quilladin to Delphox, including Barley, who glided away from his trainer to meet face to face with Shine.

“Are you alright?” he asked. Shine nodded in reply and Barley perched on the game table, making eye contact with Curio.

“So what was that all about, huh? You kinda dropped us into the middle of this spat.”

“Yeah,” Quilladin chimed in, “You made total mincemeat out of him!”

Shine grimaced at his comment, but kept silent.

“Just a little something between us,” she said with a shrug. “We’ve made up now. Say, can you do both me and Shine a huge, huge favour? Can you order something for both of us to eat if the kitchen’s still open?”

“I dunno about that,” Barley said, “That’s gonna have to come out of my trainer’s wallet. If you put in more work tomorrow, I’d be able to convince him to make it up for today.”

“Actually, we won’t be here for long, since I’m movin’ away to Shine’s home-town tomorrow afternoon.”

Barley’s mouth made an O shape, and also stopped the two starter Pokémon in the midst of their game as they turned to face her. Then, he curled his lips into a grin and nodded.

“I can sort out something for you two as long as you come in to see the Pikachu for one last lesson. Does that sound fair?”

Curio smiled back, giving a thumbs up the best she could with her paw. Shine nodded in approval along with her, and Barley glided over to his trainer’s shoulder to exit the room together, leaving them and the rest of the group alone. Quilladin sat on the edge of the table, staring at his hanging feet.

“Aw nuts, seems like everyone’s going away lately.”

“Everyone?” Curio asked, “What makes you say that?”

“Eh, Delphox’s gotta go out tomorrow, too. His trainer got the call to go to Lumiose for a performance.”

Delphox brushed a bit of dust off his ears.

“It can’t be helped, I suppose, but I’m glad to finally get out of this place. Still, it was fun passing the time with you, sapling.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Shine thought back to the apparent squabble the two had earlier after he left the night before, and while the two didn’t acknowledge it, they seemed to have made up since then, and were playing a much less complex game than chess that time around.

“Well,” Curio said, patting Quilladin’s back, “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve met a lot of peeps that’ve come and gone, so I can relate.”

Quilladin looked up at Curio with a snaggletoothed grin.

“Easy for you to say with those aura powers and all, ya cheater. And hey, you owe me a few games after bailing last night, ya know. Oh!” He scurried excitedly to the other side of the table where a wooden crate sat and pointed to the box at the top. “If you two don’t have much else going on, we can all play this together!”

“Hmm,” Delphox hummed, “I doubt you’ll want to play that game if you couldn’t handle chess.”

“Even so, I’ll be patient this time. I won’t flip the table over like I did before.” He shook the box at the two. “Well?”

“Sure, we’ve got time, plus it’ll be nice to thrash your _ass_ in this new game.” Curio pulled up a chair, gesturing Shine to sit next to her, who joined her without a second thought.

The rest of the night passed with ease. Shine joined in with Curio’s game, letting her move his piece for him as he couldn’t reach without smashing everything. A part of the staff came in later with two plates and laid them beside the two companions, with mashed potatoes and a Magikarp fillet for them each. Although he found the taste bland, it filled his belly. Barley eventually joined in to watch them play, and they were all able to chat casually with one another and exchange some light-hearted banter.

This proved to be a calm in the storm for Shine. He knew deep down that once the interview started, he would have to confront his past in full along with Curio, revisiting old memories they thought they would never have to confront again. Even so, for now, he forgot about his worries and stayed close to his spiky friend, making for the most enjoyment they had together since their reunion. He didn’t mind whether he won or lost, but chose to enjoy the journey rather than the destination.

**[End of The Chase Arc]**

**[Proceed to The Island Arc]**


	6. Interlude - Dendemille's Riders

Once Delphox said his goodbyes as his trainer came to pick him up, the excitement of the party dwindled from there and everyone agreed to call it a night. Shine in particular let out a long yawn that echoed in the room, and when he stretched, he felt the ache of his body that lingered from his fight.

Save for himself and Curio, the rest of the group said goodnight and went upstairs to the upper floor of the bar where they had a room, while the duo stayed in the Pokéroom with the lights off and went to rest on the pile of cushions. They talked very little, and eventually, they stopped talking altogether and nuzzled close to each other, feeling each other’s warmth as they drifted off to sleep. No memories resurfaced in his dreams that time.

Shine next awoke to see Curio already active, extending and contracting her metal arm, which squeaked. Grunting, she drew an oil can outside her bag and squirted around its crevices.

“That fight did a number on this arm, you know. Gotta watch what I do for a little while.”

Shine stood up, kicking at the air to stretch himself too, feeling less stiff than before.

“Right. Um, how does it feel living with a metal arm?”

“Well, it ain’t really all it’s cracked up to be. It’s not much different from using my paws, so if you notice the way I move my fingers...” She trailed off and wiggled the pinkie and ring finger together, then the middle, then the index and thumb together. “I have the same sort of nerves as I would with my paw, so I can’t move each individual finger like a human can. Sucks, wish I could play guitar with it, but at least I can do this.”

She closed it into a fist and mimed cranking it with her paw, gradually raising a middle finger.

“See! Isn’t that cool?”

“Um,” he said in a flat tone, “I guess so.”

“Eh, whatever. But it can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Now, it’s fine, but sometimes, it refuses to work at all, and I ain’t had any success finding anyone to fix it. Not everyday you get a Lucario wonderin’ around with an arm like this, you know.”

“If you want, I could help you find a mechanic in Ambrette.”

“Yeah, don’t suppose your trainer will let you sponge off his money again, do you?”

“I can convince him to help, and if you’re lucky given your circumstances, they could do it for free.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

There was a knock at the door, and Barley greeted them along with his trainer to head out to the cafe. When they entered, however, instead of the pudgy owner being at his usual spot behind the counter, that time, a much thinner man operated the till in his place. Barley shot a glance at his trainer, and the substitute looked just as confused.

“Uh, hi there?”

_“_ _Hey,”_ Barley said, _“Isn’t the owner in today?”_

“Huh?” He narrowed his eyes, then gave a squeal of surprise. “Right, right, you’re the, uh, Gligar he told me about! Yeah, unfortunately, he had to call me in to cover for him. There was a sudden meeting at his daughter’s training school.”

_“_ _So Pikachu isn’t here either?”_

“Sorry, I know he said you two called him in last night. But bear with me for a bit, I have something for the Lucario.” 

Before she asked why, the clerk disappeared into the kitchen, only to come out again with a wicker basket full of various fruits. Her eyes beamed at the sight of it, although Shine couldn’t see its contents.

“He told me to prepare this for you,” He handed the basket over to Curio. “It’s on the house.”

_“_ _Thanks a bunch!”_ she said, gripping the handle in her paw. _“Well, I think this is too much to tackle on my own. You all wanna help me out?”_

Shine nodded in reply, since he worked up a sizeable appetite after last night’s events. The group all gathered around the table and Shine climbed up to stand on the chair, giving him a full view of the fruits basket. A cornucopia of colourful berries adorned the insides: Oran, Pecha, Grepa, even Kee and Maranga berries amongst others Shine didn’t immediately recognise, but what stuck out to him was the white slip of paper attached to the handle.

_“_ _What about the note?”_ Shine said before Curio could dip her paw into her breakfast. She narrowed her eyes before noticing it, then pried the piece of paper off and unfolded it on the table for all to see. It appeared to be a handwritten letter, which Barley pointed at with his barb.

_“_ _Oh, I recognise the owner’s handwriting! Go on, read it!”_

Curio grunted and snatched the sheet, holding it up close to her face.

_“_ _Fine. I might be a bit rusty, though.”_

She cleared her throat.

“ _To Curio,  
I only heard the news about your leave recently so you’ve left me unprepared for this letter, but I want to thank you for carrying on Pikachu’s lessons from where the other teacher left off. Although there’s much I have to learn about you and what Pokémon are like in general, even without Pikachu having to speak, I can tell he was happy being around you. It’s given my __girl_ _some hope as well for when she eventually leaves._

_Although I did not know you all that well during your time here, it was a pleasure having you around as well. You were a good listener as I told you my worries about her, and even though you were apprehensive about my daughter’s trainership, you_ _were respectful and_ _gave me some good advice. If worst comes to worst, I will welcome her with open arms and won’t judge her if she decides to quit._

_Consider this basket a parting gift. I don’t know if it’s a tradition with Pokémon, but in any case, best of luck to all your future travels._

_P.S. I’ve never had to write a letter for a Pokémon before either. This must be a new milestone for my business.”_

Curio put the letter to one side and smiled.

_“_ _Well good for him,”_ she said, then plucked an Oran berry out the pile. _“Now let’s eat before I starve to death.”_

Everyone silently agreed as they dipped their hands and paws into the hamper, except for Shine. Although he tried to grab a piece of fruit, it was slightly out of reach and he retracted his paw, being cautious not to climb on the table and accidentally flip it over.

“Whoops, force of habit, I guess.” Curio laid a berry of each kind at Shine’s level, finally allowing him to dig in. They were tender and cold, nourishing Shine as he savoured ts sweet juices. 

_"Sho,"_ Curio said, halfway between a bite, _"What'sh nexsht now the Pikachu'sh out?"_

_"That's it, I think,"_ Barley said, _"We've got no one else available for you to teach since you're going so soon."_

_"What about lastsh night?"_ She swallowed. 

_"I'll let it slide. What do you think?"_ His trainer shrugged. _"Then that works for me."_

_"Awesome."_

_“_ _Besides,”_ he smiled widely, _“It’s been great having you here. If you ever come to the Vine again, our doors are open for you.”_

Curio batted a paw in the air at him. _“Aw, you’re makin’ me blush, if I could anyway.”_

Barley turned to Shine.

_“_ _Let me know how it goes in Ambrette. We’d like to hear about what the Pokéstops are like there if there are any,_ _so please keep in contact. Us speakers should stick together, after all.”_

Shine hummed to himself. He hadn’t really checked to see if there were any, or at least showed much interest in finding one. He mostly kept to himself, either going to the library, reading to Bauble or staying at home during the day to read more. If Barley was interested in this case, that would be reason enough to finally go to one, but regardless, Shine smiled and offered his front paw to him, which he shook in return.

When Shine tended to his breakfast, he glanced at Curio and saw her previously cheerful expression dropped. He wasn’t sure why, but as quickly as he saw it, it was gone, as Curio shook her head and chomped on a Pecha berry.

Once the group emptied the basket, they decided to go their separate ways. Shine and Curio would venture outside until their eventual leave, and Barley and his trainer offered to stay behind to discuss business matters with the co-owner. Before the duo left, however, Barley glided up to Curio’s shoulder and licked her across the face with his big tongue, which she laughed and waved them goodbye as they exited the cafe.

“So.” She nudged his side. “Who’s this Bauble, anyway?”

Shine stumbled on his own words before she cut him off.

“Relax, I didn’t ask you if you two were dating or anything, just wonderin’.”

So Curio used her aura again. He exhaled and his heartbeat steadied.

“She’s just a friend that tags along with me whenever she’s bored. Nothing more.”

“Alrighty then.”

“Curio,” he said, changing his tone, “I hate to sound rude, but would it be possible for you to not keep reading my thoughts like that? I don’t remember much of you using it on me back then, but here, it’s a little invasive.”

“I can’t help myself, it’s in my nature to nose around like that. And you saying it’s invasive, I mean, you can see through walls and stuff. How many people have you seen naked in their homes?”

Shine flustered, trying to think of a proper response. “Well, I--”

“Don’t answer that.”

She had a point, even if it was completely missing the point of his request in the first place.

“Still, can you keep my thoughts to yourself? Unless I’m lying, of course. You can call me out on it whenever that happens.”

“Of course I will. You never lie to a Lucario, after all.”

That much was common knowledge.

“Say, we’ve got plenty of time before we head out, right? Wanna do something fun?”

It was still early, but it would’ve been convenient to know exactly how long he had left.

“Oh!” Curio exclaimed, “Look, I’ll try to stop sticking my nose into your business, but if you wanna know what the time is...” As she walked, she fished inside one of the many pockets in her bag to pull out a watch, who held it close to her twitching.

“Yup, still works. When do we need to meet them by?”

Curio presented the clock-face to Shine. He forgot about the fact she just read his thoughts again and stared at the watch, which was encrusted with various stones as they glittered in the sunlight. If he knew anything about jewellery, he would’ve said it must’ve been fairly expensive, but before he dwelt on it any longer, Curio coughed pointedly.

“We’ve got two hours until we need to be at the park.”

“Sweet.” She withdrew the watch. “Tell ya what, I’ve got a surprise waiting for ya. Run up to the top of that hill before the mill and I’ll be there with ya in a bit, okay?”

Before Shine mustered a reply, Curio started running the other way.

“Hold on, Curio!” he shouted. That time, she stopped. “Is this going to be like last time?”

“Course not, I’ve gotten over that now, so I’m definitely coming with ya.”

“You swear it on your tail?”

“Swear it on my tail.” She made a point of her tail-swear by flicking it, then left Shine to his own devices.

So, he trekked up the hill again and waited until his companion popped out from the road, lugging a big shopping cart uphill. He blinked a few times before realising the nature of the surprise.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Course I am! I’ve done this a few times before with Quilladin and we both turned out fine!”

Shine narrowed his eye at her. “Where did you get that from anyway? You’re not supposed to take them!”

Curio blew a Razzberry at him. “Who cares? Everyone takes them anyway, what harm will another do?”

Shine grunted and looked to where the hill headed down a steep incline.

“C’mon! Don’t be a wuss, I just wanna do this once before I go.” She teased him with a toothy grin. “You don’t wanna be like that milksop Luccy, do ya?”

Nothing worked quite like peer pressure. There was nothing at stake this time, but of all things, Shine hated nothing more than wounded pride.

“Alright, you’re on.”

“That’s more like it.”

Shine stumbled into the basket and landed on his back, fumbling around in it until he sat up, with his tail poking through the metal mesh below. He looked at the slope once more. This was going to be a steep ride at the very least, if there wasn’t anybody else in the way. His pulse quickened, regretting it already, but before he could protest, Curio pushed the cart downhill. In his reflex, Shine grappled onto the rim of the basket, holding on for what felt like dear life.

“I didn’t even say I was ready!” he shouted.

“Didn’t need to! Hold on!” Curio dumped her bag behind Shine and stepped onto the rail. The cart felt weightless, as it went at a steady speed on the straight path at first. Once they reached the slope, however, they shot downhill. Both of them screamed. Curio sounded joyful. Shine didn’t. In fact, the speed reminded him all too well of Adele’s dragon riding, not helped by the bumpy wheels which sent vibrations ringing through his body.

They were about to approach a dead end, where their only salvation was a sharp turn on the left.

“Get ready for this!” Curio shouted.

“Wait wait wait wait wait wait!”

Curio shifted her weight to her right, crashing Shine against one of the mesh wells. It still looked certain they were about to crash, but just in time Curio gripped the handle with her metal arm, making the cart turn a full 90 degrees.

He couldn’t believe what he experienced. After that turn, anything she would do next would be mundane in comparison. In any case, as they headed down the straight downhill slope again, Curio howled in the air, and in turn, Shine roared alongside her too.

The rest were smooth sailings, save for the two occasional bystanders that had to avoid getting run over. Once they reached the plateau at the end, Curio skidded her paws on the ground, acting as brakes, and slowed down the cart, which eventually stopped. Shine slunk down to the bottom of the basket and lied there, catching his breath. Curio stood above him, appearing upside down.

“Now you can be mad at me,” she said.

“That was fantastic, actually,” he said with a smile. “I’d never want to do that again, though.”

Curio chuckled, then reached down to let Shine out of the cart. He dropped down to the floor beside and as she joined him, he glanced at the scuffed bottoms of her paws.

“You used those to brake, correct?”

She nodded.

“How were they not torn up at that speed?”

“Let’s just say I’ve had plenty of exercise.” Curio tapped the sole of her foot with a claw. “See? Tough as leather.”

“Hello, you two.” Leafeon popped out from behind them. “I saw your downhill race. I’d give it full points if this were a contest.” She winked at Shine. “I see you’ve made it in one piece.”

“Just barely,” Curio said before he could speak for himself. “How’s it going?”

“Actually, I need to warn you about something. The master hasn’t forgotten about what you did a few days back.” 

“Yeah, so?”

“So, he’s looking to press charges.”

“Excuse me?” She scowled.

“He told one of his other workers. Trespassing, destruction of property, plus he suspects you actually came there to steal, and were a part of that gang all along.”

“Seriously?” Curio wagged a paw at her. “It was for a good cause, I swear! You can back me up on this, right, Shine?”

“Absolutely. She saved my hide from those Claws. Plus, I saw her drive them away from town and I don’t think I’ve seen anybody mention it since, so her being a part of their group is just a rumour.”

Leafeon’s lips straightened into a line. 

“I’ll believe it when I see it, but whatever. Point is, it’ll cost him a lot.”

“How much exactly?” Shine asked, to which, Leafeon shrugged.

“I suck at money and numbers so I can’t say for sure, but it had a lot of zeroes, for sure.”

“Well,” Curio scoffed, “Screw that. We’re going out of town soon anyway and nobody can stop us, unless you came here to fight.”

Leafeon cocked her head with a thoughtful expression, then shook it.

“Eh. I’ll give you the benefit of a doubt. Besides, I’m no snitch. Not that I can really say much to change this situation, but hey.”

“Good.” Curio smiled, then shook paws with her before Leafeon turned away.

“It was nice knowing you freaks anyway. See you.”

With that, she disappeared up the hill, leaving the two on their own.. Curio dumped the shopping cart beside the road and although Shine thought she should’ve returned it at least, he didn’t think to comment, and so, walked with her to the rendezvous point. They settled in an unoccupied spot of the park and sat close to each other in the shade, talking very little during their rest. Curio made passing comments on whichever funny-looking Pokémon she saw in the fields, but Shine kept mostly to himself. It was so quiet, he could hear the wind brush past the leaves. It calmed him after the trip he had downhill. Eventually, the two dozed off close together, using Curio’s bag to support both of their heads.

The trees rustled with a light breeze, then nearly stripped with the force of the howling wind, jolting Curio and Shine awake. Passers by made way as they stepped to one side, steering clear for a certain duo to land. It was Adele and her Dragonite Accendare. With each landing wing flap, the breeze brushed the two’s faces until Accendare jerked down with an ungraceful thump. Shine approached them with Curio following behind.

_“_ _Hello,”_ Shine said.

“Nice to see you’re early!” Adele said, “Ready for another ride on the puke plane?”

_“_ _Ready as I’ll ever be.”_

“And I see this is the Lucario you were talking about!” Adele jumped off the harness, ready to give Curio a handshake when she quirked an eyebrow at the metal arm.

_“_ _Yeah, that’s the first thing folks usually notice._ _Makes for a good icebreaker, I’d say.”_ To make a point of this, she fistbumped Adele with her metal knuckles, and the rider broke into a fit of laughter.

“Oh man! This gets more interesting with each passing day! Alright, hop on!”

She climbed onto Accendare’s back and helped the two get on.

“Are you still joining our lesson?” Shine asked Accendare.

“Of course,” she said.

With that, Adele signalled the Dragonite to take flight, and they were in the air within a minute, heading towards Ambrette.


	7. Interlude - Ambrette's Teachers

When they arrived at the ranch, the two had to rest. Although Shine didn’t vomit like last time, the nausea still caught up with him and wouldn’t let go any time soon. Oddly enough, to him at least, Curio didn’t seem affected by it, only resting to catch her breath as one normally would after being exposed to the elements. She recovered once she adjusted to ground level again, and stood over Shine, blocking his view of the sky.

“C’mon, you big furball. Do I have to drag you up to your feet?”

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to wait, this is my business.”

“I know, but I can help out too. Just don’t leave me hangin’.”

Shine staggered to his paws, still dizzy from the ride, but shook his head, getting a grip on the world again. The rider undid Accendare’s equipment and handed them to the assistants who took it to the barn.

_“So,”_ Shine started, _“What level would you say Petri’s at?”_

“Well, we’ve been teaching him throughout the spring all the way up to here so far. He can do short sentences, and his pronunciation’s alright, but he has to break most words down bit by bit to be able to say them, which makes him sound kind of flat. His grammar’s fine, though, so on the whole, I’d say he’s reaching into an intermediate level.”

_“What about his teacher?”_

“Unfortunately, he and Petri don’t get along well, but I’ll let him speak for himself.”

_“And is it alright if Accendare joins us?”_

“What, is she interested as well?”

The Dragonite nodded.

“Well, you can as long as you can do some extra work tomorrow for the Postmon service.” Adele gave her an appreciative pat on the side. “Well, I don’t see anything else I should say, just feel free to report to the house beside the barn when it becomes sunset. You’ll see Petri over at the muddy pond. Oh, and feel free to take a break when you should, just so those two can get some exercise.”

_“Alright, thank you.”_

_“Gotcha.”_

With that, the two headed over to the bog where Petri, another Goodra and a pair of Goomy swam. When he spotted the duo, he leaned out of the pond and waved over to the group.

“Hey Shine! Are we starting now?”

“We can if you want. I doubt Accendare will want to wait.”

“Who?” He cocked his head.

“Um.” She fumbled with her claws. “We’ve met before, Petri. At the—”

“Oh yeah. Sorry, I have a hard time telling the rest of you Dragonite apart.”

She muttered something that vaguely sounded like “Says you”.

“Oh, and Curio will be helping out as well. She is—”

“Very pleased to meet ya!” she said, waving a paw. “I’ll be takin’ over just in case Shine makes you fall asleep!”

“I was about to say she is my friend, but that works too.” He gestured to a flat patch of grass. “Shall we sit over there?”

Petri nodded and the two dragons followed behind Shine and Curio to sit down opposite them. Accendare sat away from where Petri dripped goo into a puddle around him.

“Well,” Shine started, “Let’s start by finding out more about this situation. Adele told me you’re being taught by a human at the moment.”

He nodded.

“And she also tells me you two don’t get along very well.”

“Yes, well,” Petri paused, looking glumly to his side. “He isn’t the most agreeable human on the earth. He shouts at me a lot, only just because I talk the way I do. I don’t think he gets that we aren’t used to speaking in growls and cries.”

“Well screw him,” Curio said. “Why didn’t you just tell that rancher he was being an _asshole_?”

“I wouldn’t use that language to describe him. I wanted a better teacher, sure, but I didn’t want her to make a big deal out of it. She has enough work as it is maintaining all of us. Going through the extra effort to find a Pokémon to replace him instead would be a waste.”

“Alright.” Shine took a deep breath. “Let’s step back a bit. It sounds like you’ve been learning long enough for you to get past simple sentences, even from human to Pokémon. How has he been teaching you so far? Do you at least know which sounds go into each words?”

“Well, nothing advanced like that, I just play it by ear. All he does is read aloud from a book aimed at human children learning to talk and tells me to go through each exercise. It gets the job done, I guess, although it’s a little degrading.”

"Ah, I see what the issue is now. You have a bad teacher."

"I do?"

"He doesn't explain the basics and expects you to skip to sentences already. It's not just bad, it's inefficient. Me and Curio learned how to do simple sentences without stopping in just a month. Does he even know how our own language system works?"

"He never said anything about it, he just told me it didn't need explanation."

"It depends, but it helps to understand how to properly transition from Pokémon to human speech. But, let's backtrack here. Have you ever stopping to think about how say we say words, and how humans say theirs?”

"Well, kind of. The more I think about it, the more it confuses me."

"You see, our language system is quite similar to theirs. Same modes of address, same tenses, same manners of speech, all of these get passed down from one generation of Pokémon to the next as they communicate with each other, but we don’t start off immediately understanding human language. However, we’re able to pick up on it fast with enough exposure, but how exactly we're able to do it is still a mystery. Some even say language is like a virus from outer space.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Never mind. What separates us from humans are the sounds we use. Really stop to think about what sounds you're making when you say a word like 'hello' in your own tongue, then what sounds are used when you say the same thing in human. Listen to me, for instance.”

Shine let out a friendly snarl, which was what it sounded like to the untrained human ear.

"What did that sound like?"

"Oo-arr-or."

"And in human."

Shine greeted Petri in the same tone of voice, except in human tongue.

"Now, what did that sound like?"

_"Hell-oh!"_

"That's right, but there's one other thing your teacher neglected to mention. Since you learned to say that by ear, you're picking apart the sounds by syllables, which means you're doing it by the breaks of the words. But sound is a lot more complicated than that, which boils down to the vibrations your tongue makes when speaking. These are what we call phonemes, the little sounds that make up each word. Hello is more than just those two syllables. If we break it down by its proper sounds, what you have is 'ha', 'ell' and 'oh'. These are similar to the sounds you heard in our own tongue."

"That sounds a lot more complicated than I'm used to."

"Don't worry, it was complicated for me at first, and at one point, I found it easier just to break it down into syllables, but once I knew how much work went into it and how to pronounce it phonetically, it sounded natural to me. I'll promise not to make it boring for you, but if you do, we can take a break. How does that sound?"

"I'm still a little confused, but I can manage. To be honest, you sound like you know what you're doing more than that human."

Shine gave a hard look at Curio, who had fallen asleep with her bag tucked under her head like a pillow, but brushed aside her sloth and continued with Petri.

"I'll have to see that for myself. The important thing is that you're learning faster already. This will be good for you too, Accendare, since this is the sort of thing I started out with as well. Now, let's put that into practice, shall we?"

For the next couple of hours, Shine broke down the fundamentals of speech and gave Petri and Accendare brief definitions of linguistics, and worked through some of Petri’s problem areas such as his monotonous speech patterns. Petri was the most engaged over Accendare who listened attentively but only contributed to the conversation occasionally. If anything, Shine got the feeling she was bothered by something given how silent she was.

Curio, on the other hand, snored through the entire session, so loudly and conveniently placed whenever Shine talked that he suspected she was doing it on purpose. When Petri suggested to take a break, Curio woke up herself without any help.

“What’re we doing?” she said, stretching her paws.

“Petri wants to go on break.”

“Yeah, um,” Petri said, “How long is long enough, would you say? I’m no good with minutes.”

“Depends on what you want to do.”

“Okay, how about a few games of Dodge?”

This was a simple and efficient game to play as a Pokémon, as it involved dodging whichever projectiles came somebody’s way with whatever elements each Pokémon type had at their disposal. Curio obliged but Shine opted out and stayed with Accendare, simply watching the two trade blows with each other as Curio threw aura spheres the size of tennis balls at Petri, and he threw globs of slime at her in return. Both were light on their feet, even Petri who was twice the Lucario’s size.

Accendare started picking daisies with her claws, and Shine inched closer to her, shifting his attention back and forth between the game and the delicate Dragonite.

“Is it alright if I call you Accy?”

She shrugged, whilst she tried to put together a daisy chain with her tiny claws.

“Well Accy, I just want to make sure everything’s alright. You’ve been mostly quiet, after all.”

She nodded with a faint frown.

“I was curious, why did you decide to join us? You must’ve had something good in mind when you thought about learning human.”

“Of course. I want to be able to talk to Adele.”

“Sounds fair enough.” He laid down on the grass. “Was there anything you wanted me to relay to her, though?”

After fumbling around with the chain to little success, Accy broke it apart.

“No, it’s something I have to do myself. I’m not sure you’d understand.”

She stayed silent afterwards, staring off into the distance, deep in thought. Shine wanted to find out what exactly he wouldn’t understand, as something clearly bothered her, but her tone suggested it was an issue she wanted to keep to herself. It was at times like these that he wished he had Curio’s aura capabilities. Sometimes, the embrace of a fuzzy Pokemon was just as good as a mind-reader though, and so, he leaned towards her belly.

“Listen, I know as well as any Pokemon you’re entitled to your secrets, but if there’s anything you feel you can tell me, please do. I would be all ears.”

She clasped both her paws together and nodded. Then splat. All of a sudden, a glob of slime hit Shine in the face, coating him with the gooey substance. It didn’t hurt, but his heart rate quickened when it hit him, and jerked his body to the play area to see who was responsible. It wasn’t Petri who did it, but rather Curio who waved a dripping paw in the air.

“C’mon!” she said with a toothy grin. “Join us!”

He laughed, as he would probably need a bath to clean the goo off, but he might as well have milked his uncleanliness for all it was worth, so he started to walk over to them when he noticed Accendare still didn’t move.

“Would you like to join us?” he said. She shook her head and waved a paw in their direction. From then on, Shine had a few rounds of Dodge, using weak jolts of electricity as his choice of weapon and placed last twice, falling victim to Curio’s aura once and to another goo glob from Petri. He would’ve needed an extra long bath to get rid of it all at that stage.

Without needing to lift a paw himself, Curio declared it was time to start the second half of their lesson. They returned to their circle, but Curio spoke first.

“I wanna try something different, with none of the theory crap this time.”

Shine was about to say something in reply, but closed his mouth again. It was pointless trying to argue.

_“So, speak as well as you can without stopping, and don’t worry if you get a few things wrong on the way. Tell me what you dragons get up to in this place.”_

“Oh.” Petri rubbed a wad of goo together with his paws.

_“We train, like a-ny Pokémon, but we have diff-er-ent skills. I can not fly, but I can fight. We pre-pare for a long time. When we are rea-dy, we are for sa-le for a trai-ner.”_

_“Doesn’t that kinda suck, though?_ She frowned. _“Any random jerkwad could buy you and treat you like dirt.”_

_“Our ca-rers do not let them. They need a good re-cord.”_

_“Still, you didn’t ask for this, did you? You must have something you want to do for yourself.”_

_“Good trai-ners have in-ter-est in me. They are kind to me. The peo-ple here are kind to me.”_

_“Not that teacher.”_

_“He is not from here. If I can find a trai-ner who can buy me and be kind, I want to help them. That is e-nough for me.”_

Curio leaned in closer to Petri, observing him. As far as Shine could tell, Petri was relaxed, and his smooth body was clean, so he guessed he was treated well. Petri's smile grew wider when Curio peered into his eyes.

_“I tell the truth.”_

She nodded and pulled back.

_“You’re honest, I’ll give you that. I’ve just met a lot of Pokémon before who’ve lied to themselves about this sort of thing.”_

_“I know the say-ing of your kind.”_

The following conversations were more cheerful as Curio mostly asked about Petri’s other activities in the ranch and his friends, and only mentioned vague details about herself when Petri asked her questions of his own, as she mentioned hearing about a few dragon ranches in Sinnoh. Shine sat in the background, but let Curio go on as he could see she was encouraging Petri to speak. To occupy his thoughts, he considered what he would do next time to help Petri progress further, like bringing a chart to write on, for instance.

Eventually, the sky became a blood orange with a pale ball of fire sinking into the horizon. That was time enough to end their shift. The ranch followed suit as the majority of the Pokémon in the fields joined an organised line, which he tried to piece together. A slimy paw tapped his shoulder which drew him out of the scene.

“Feeding time’s about to begin soon, so I think that’s all for now. Thanks, Mr. Shine and Ms. Curio.”

He would’ve blushed if he could. It was the first time in a while somebody addressed him so formally, let alone a Pokémon.

“You’re welcome.” Shine bowed. “I hope to see you again soon.”

“Me too!” Petri winked before charging into the open field to join the rest of the Pokémon. Another set of heavy steps plodded behind uneasily, belonging to Accendare who hadn’t joined the rest of the group yet.

“What’s wrong?” Shine said.

Accendare’s eyes signalled over to the barn, lips creased into a frown.

“Um, you two might want to head to the house soon. Feeding time gets a little, um, violent.”

The duo’s expressions didn’t change, although there was a mutual understanding of what the situation was.

“Um, thanks, you two. I think I, um, learned a lot.”

“You’re welcome too. Feel free to join us any time you like.”

She nodded and sat down, staring at her feet. Something in his gut told him this was a situation he would have to see unfold through his own eye, so he dismissed himself and nodded to Curio, who caught up with him and padded through the open area on the way to the farmhouse’s path. While they walked, Curio absent-mindedly picked at her ears with a tiny piece of Bone Rush.

“Did you notice something odd about Accendare?” Shine said.

“Nope.” She tossed the waxy swab aside. “Nothin’ at all.”

A part of him wasn’t convinced by Curio’s tone, but felt no need to press further.

“Must be my imagination.”

When they arrived, they faced the back of the barn, which forked into two paths at each side leading to the house. They chose the one on the right and on the way there, they passed by two members of staff who lugged around two wheelbarrows full of Pokéballs. Shine couldn’t take his eye off it until they were out of his sight, knowing full well what purpose it had, but Curio didn’t bat an eye.

Once they were in the house area, which was connected to the back of the barn, Shine caught a pleasant symphony of various cooked meats calling in the air and his stomach responded with a tune of its own. Despite the carnage about to unfold outside, he put those morbid thoughts to rest in favour of finding out where the scene came from. Up a small flight of stairs beside them, a door stood ajar leading into the kitchen where various aproned staff worked. Shine’s paws moved on their own, but he controlled himself as any sane person wouldn’t have let any Pokémon waltz into their food storage. Curio, however, didn’t hesitate to make her presence known as she took the first step up.

“We can’t just walk in there!” Shine called.

“It’ll be fine, just follow your nose!”

She strutted into the house as he followed, desperate to convince her to come back outside. When he came in, he was surprised to see the staff hadn’t sicced their Pokémon on them or raised their knives in self defence, but rather, they continued working quietly, dicing up steaks and adding them to the stew pot on a flame-fueled stove. Only one person faced them and even he seemed pleased to see the two.

“You the two new teachers everybody’s raving about?”

Shine nodded in reply and the man smiled, pointing to the door on his right.

“Dining room’s past there. The missus will be down in a jiffy; she just asked to see you two fed for your work today.”

Curio cast a smug look that said ‘told you so’.

_“Oh, thank you sir.”_

“No need to be so formal. Go on, what’re you waiting for?”

The two headed to the dining room, and once they opened the door, it revealed a chaotic gathering of various people of different ages, including the two assistants from before, all seated around one long table. Oddly enough, it didn’t fit the entire length of the room as there was still a bit of space left after the table ended, after which an unused smaller table sat perpendicular at the end of the room. When their presence became known among the group, an elderly man shakily raised his hand.

“Come here, you two.” He spoke with the pleasant weariness of old age, and the duo stood beside his wheelchair at the far end of the table.

“Yes.” He peered at them with sunken eyes. “Such an interesting couple you make. Adele told me you two fit each other.”

_“And you are?”_ Curio asked.

The elderly man leaned in closer, cupping his ear. “Terribly sorry. Can you repeat that?”

_“I said, what’s your name?”_

“Sorry, one more time?”

_“Who are ya, ya old fart?”_ she shouted, and at last, the man leaned back, taking in Curio’s comment. Shine shot a severe look and nudged her, but as revenge, she punched his side.

_“Ow! Forgive my friend’s manners, sir.”_

Cutting the tension short, the old man heartily laughed, only to devolve into a cough.

“Not to worry. I know I’ve become a bag of bones as of late. Strange. A Pokémon comes up to speak to me in a language I understand and I have to tell them to repeat it. My ears must be cursed.”

_“You don’t seem terribly surprised you have two speaking Pokémon before you.”_

“No, no, I’ve seen a few speaking Pokémon during my career as a rancher. For some jobs, it’s a necessary skill for dragons to possess if team communication is important with their trainers, something not many people value even to this day, sadly. My daughter will tell you as much.”

_“So you’re Adele’s father?”_

“Indeed. You can call me Remy.” He smiled at something behind them. “Here come the tots.”

Three children came towards them, and one boy no older than ten pointed at the flustered Luxray.

“Ooh, ooh! Can you say hello?”

_“Um, hello?”_ Shine said. The children squeed and Shine suddenly found himself bombarded with hugging arms and grabbing hands that were too eager to pet his coat, which was worse than what he expected.

“He said it!”

“Aw,” a girl said, “I wanna take him home with me!”

“Hey,” another boy said, “Don’t keep him to yourself, I wanna pet him too you know!”

Shine sat still as they patted at him in all sorts of ways, not wanting to offend any of them but was trying to find a way to get them to kindly get lost. All things considered, Shine was glad Tony didn’t have plans to have kids yet, or that a younger trainer took Tony’s place instead. Curio, however, opened her arms, welcoming them with a toothy grin.

_“C’mere”_ she said, _“You can’t let that stick in the mud have all the fun.”_

Mercifully, the children stopped grabbing at Shine and gave Curio the attention she craved, crowding around her. One reached out to stroke underneath her chin, when she lowered herself to let them as the rest joined in, and in the midst of it all, Curio closed her eyes and panted, seemingly throwing all caution to the wind. That was a first for Shine. It was odd to see Curio act like, well, a Pokémon, after all she said to suggest the opposite. One of them stepped back and pointed at the arm.

“That looks interesting.”

Despite its history, Curio nodded in agreement.

_“It sure is! I bet I could lift you all up with it.”_

“Can you?” all three asked in unison. She stepped back, crouched and outstretched it for all to grab a hold of. She stood up and soon enough, the children were swept off their feet, dangling in the air. Although Shine thought of this as another display of show-boating, he couldn’t help but enjoy the spectacle.

Another door swung open and out came Adele, dressed out of her ranching gear, revealing her long flowing hair as it swayed behind her dress. She entered, holding what appeared to be an instrument case and smiled at the scene before her.

“Right, you lil’ monsters. We’re starting dinner in a minute so you better get seated.”

They collectively groaned and let go of Curio’s arm, rushing back to their seats. Adele stood in the centre at the edge of the table.

“Everyone,” she called, getting the room’s undivided attention on cue, “Can we please have a moment of silence for our old pal here?”

She held out the case in front of her for all to see and opened it, revealing an accordion with both of the keyboards split apart. There was a look of disappointment shared by everyone in the room.

“But how?” the scruffy apprentice asked.

“I was just practising on it and the bloody thing broke on me. I thought I was being careful, but oh well. It’ll probably be fixed or replaced by tomorrow. Sadly it looks like I can’t play for y’all tonight.” Adele closed the case and sat beside her father, setting it down on the table, and frowned.

“Sorry Pa, I know how long you’ve had this passed around for.”

He shook his head. “Don’t apologise. It’s just an accordion, they’re replaceable. Doesn’t matter when we bought it.”

“I guess so.” She turned to the duo, flushing away the grief on her face.

“So, how’d you two get on?”

_“Rather splendidly, I think,”_ Shine said. _“Petri seems very thankful to have me as a teacher. Accendare’s finding my teaching interesting too.”_

“That’s swell to hear. It looks like you did a great job, so I thought I’d have the boys do you some grub in return.”

_“I’m very thankful.”_ He bowed. _“It really wasn’t necessary, I’m the one in your debt after all.”_

Curio punched him in the side again.

_“Don’t mind him, he’s always lookin’ a gift Ponyta in the mouth.”_

“He’s just polite, that’s all. But to tell you the truth, we usually make a ton of food during dinner, so what’s left over gets chucked into the field for the dragons to have as a snack before settling down. Not that they don’t get plenty of food as is, mind you.”

He thought back to the stash of Pokéballs being wheeled to the farm and winced. Part of him wanted to ask what sort of Pokémon were being fed to the dragons there, but that went without saying. Instead, he looked over at the case still on the table and changed the subject.

_“Do you play accordion?”_

_“No, Shine,”_ Curio scoffed. _“She uses it to beat people to death.”_

Adele laughed, tracing her hand over the case.

“Well, there are definitely a few people I’d like to use that on, but yeah, I’ve been practising ever since I learned to walk. Maybe not that long back, but you get the picture. Course, I don’t find as much time for it now as I did back then, but a couple of hours a night does me good.”

“You should visit her some time in town if you ever get the chance to see her play,” Remy said. “She’s usually at The Krabby and Co. on off days.”

The cooks entered the room wheeling in trolleys of trays containing everyone’s meals, serving the humans at the tables first complete with tankards of beer and afterwards, tended to Shine and Curio as they laid two trays on the floor. Both of them consisted of a bowl of cassoulet with a few slices of baguette and a water bowl for them each, except only Curio’s contained cutlery. Shine bowed to them and sampled the ingredients of the stew, filled with beans, slices of skin and tender meat that had a tangy taste to it. If Shine had to guess, it belonged to a Flaaffy, which was probably being served raw and alive outside.

He shrugged it off and ate quietly, while Curio shoved spoonful after spoonful in her maw and chewed rather noisily. By the time she finished, Shine wasn’t even halfway through his.

After they were done, they briefly mingled with the other guests that took an interest in them, a lot of which were a part of Adele’s extended family and others simply being her staff. While Curio attracted most of the attention in part due to her arm, Shine was mostly in the background of the conversation, which he didn’t mind.

Once the two had enough, they decided to head home to meet Tony, but before they left, Adele told Shine of his next expected lesson, which would be in the morning two days later. When they left the house, Shine looked to the field separated by the fence. The chaos he imagined had died down as every Pokémon there had eaten and were dozing off as far as he could see. It was night, so it was hard to see any of the aftermath, and he thought of looking with his golden vision to see if anything had been left behind, but stopped as Curio smacked his back.

“Jeez, you’ve been thinkin’ about those damn livestock all night. It’s normal, and there’s nothin’ we can do about it, so don’t pay attention to it.”

“I know I shouldn’t, it’s just something I’ll never get used to.” He sighed. “Let’s go, then.”


	8. Interlude - Ambrette's Subjects

With food in their bellies and a half day of work behind them, the two headed back to Tony’s apartment. Although Shine wasn’t entirely sure how to retrace his steps from when Bauble dropped him off two days back, his golden vision helped guide him back to civilization, and once he got back to the city, the walk home was easy, and the fading light of the sky cleared his mind.

He led the way to the second floor of the apartment complex, leading to a balcony area connecting to the entrances of each apartment, and stopped after reaching Tony’s which bore the door with the flap at the bottom. Dread washed over Shine as it was the first time he had ventured alone on such short notice, and didn’t know how Tony would react to his departure.

“Wait here,” Shine said, “I’ll have to get him to unlock it from the inside.”

“Do what you gotta do.”

Shine took a deep breath and entered through the flap. He could tell Tony was back since the smell of oil drifted through the air, so he padded over to the kitchen and there he was, hunched over the grill.

_“Er, hello,”_ he said. Even though his trainer wasn’t looking, he bowed out of courtesy. _“Sorry.”_

“That’s alright,” Tony said, “I’m not going to scold you for going out. Sure, I could’ve done with a bit more notice, but I’m glad you’re back.” 

Shine sighed with relief. Hearing Tony’s reassuring voice again took a bit of pressure off of the past few days, and he curled up beside his trainer’s legs, purring affectionately.

“How come you’re back so late?”

_“It’s a long story, but for now, somebody’s waiting for you outside.”_

“Oh yeah. Who?”

“ _One of my old friends, Curio.”_

When he heard that, Tony stopped, put the frying pan to one side and turned to Shine, wide eyed.

“Oh wow, that’s great news! How did you find her?”

_"Never mind that. She wants to tell her own story, but for now, she’s waiting for you outside.”_

“Right, right.” He jerked his head from one place to another. “Where’s my kit?”

_“It’s still in your studio.”_

Tony rushed to the other side of the apartment and came back towing his camera case. He shakily opened it and assembled it in front of Shine, putting the camcorder and the zoom mic together. “I saw the paper Ines gave me, but what did you end up doing?”

It wasn’t something Shine wanted to worry Tony about since he had been inches away from needing a seeing eye Pokémon to follow him around. 

_“Long story.”_ Shine glanced at the front door. _“Can I let her in already?”_

“Can I get this ready first? I want to meet her as I’m taking the shot, if you don’t mind.”

Curio probably wouldn’t have been happy being made to wait, but if it was necessary for Tony to film her reaction, then she could’ve beared another minute alone. Shine nodded, allowing Tony to assemble the equipment and finally turned it on, walking towards the door with the REC button pressed.

“Can you open this for me?”

Shine nodded and stood on his hindpaws to pull on the handle, which opened to reveal nothing. Upon seeing this, Shine rushed out to see where she was, before giving his trainer an exasperated look.

_"I can explain."_

"I believe you."

Shine turned on his golden vision and realised Curio had wandered off to another side of the floor for whatever reason. To catch her attention, he roared and she took the hint, appearing not long after. 

_“Didn’t realise how nice the view was from up here,”_ Curio said, expression dropping. _“So, you’re Shine’s trainer, huh? Took you long enough.”_

“Yes, sorry about that. I’m Tony.” With his other arm free from the camcorder, he outstretched it for a handshake. “It’s wonderful to meet one of Shine’s friends at last. He’s been--”

_“Are you recording me already?”_ She pulled back, baring her fangs. 

“Yes. I thought it would be a good shot to—”

_“I don’t care! You can’t just film me like some safari Pokémon, shut it off!”_

Tony did as she said, pointing the camera away from her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean any harm.”

_“Whatever, can I come in now?”_

“Absolutely.” He backed away and she stormed through the hallway.

“Did I upset her somehow?” he said, pointing a finger at himself.

_“Not as far as I know, I didn’t think it would provoke her that much.”_ He saw Curio occupying herself in the living room. _“I’ll deal with her while you finish cooking.”_

Shine padded over to where the curious Lucario was, poking at the various oddments on Tony’s desk. One particular object caught her interest as she held it up in front of her: a framed picture of Tony and Shine together with various other people and Pokémon she hadn’t met yet. Shine patted her leg, turning her away from the photo, and she frowned.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “I should’ve asked you if it was alright for him to film.”

“As you should. C’mere.” She collapsed onto the couch, putting her feet up on the table as she motioned Shine to join her, pointing at the glass.

“Who’s they?” 

“Some of his friends from where he works.”

“Eh.” She casually tossed the frame onto the table which clattered.

“Careful!” Shine could’ve turned white; it was a miracle the glass hadn’t broken.

“Sorry, I guess.” She jerked her head to both directions. “This is where you live?”

“Don’t you like it? Sorry if you think it’s a bit of a mess.”

“You kiddin’? This is cleaner than most places I’ve been to, too clean if you ask me. You know, I’d be happy to mess this place up for you if you want.”

“Look.” Shine glared at her. “I get that you don’t approve of Tony, but can you try to be civil here? I don’t want him to feel like an intruder in his own home.”

“Civil? We’re Pokémon. Besides, I’m not here to sip tea with your trainer or whatever it is he gets up to, I just want to get this thing over with.”

“Well, can you at least be patient with him when he talks to you? You only need to deal with him until he goes back to work tomorrow, then we practically have the whole day to ourselves.”

“I won’t promise anything.”

Shine stared at her for a moment, but he took the hint she wasn’t going to be swayed and shrugged it off. A minute later, Tony came in with a plate full of stir fry, sitting beside Shine, and jabbed a fork into the mess of noodles. Curio wrinkled her nose and distanced herself from the two, sitting on the floor.

_“Alright,”_ Curio said, _“Whaddya need me to do? I didn’t come here to watch your stuff your face, you know.”_

“I like your attitude. Well, I didn’t mean to drag you here and expect you to fire away immediately. I just thought we’d get to know each other first.”

“ _And...”_ She trailed off, only to start scratching her ear with her paw. “ _Why would I wanna get to know you? This is hardly your story. What, you think I came here just to answer your stupid questions so you can get rich off of my suffering?”_

“ _Curio!”_ Shine said, rising from his seat. “ _That’s enough! You’ve hardly met him and you’re already accusing him of stuff he’d never do! Why are you acting so hostile?”_

“ _I ain’t actin’ hostile, I’m just bein’ honest. If I’m gonna be spilling the beans about my own history, I might as well spew out whatever I wanna say about him. Two for two.”_

“Alright, I understand.” Tony put his plate to the side and clasped his hands together. Despite Curio’s glass-shattering gaze, he wasn’t intimidated, but confronted her with a confident gaze of his own. “You want to get to the point already. When shall we start?”

“ _Tonight, in an hour.”_ She stood up and prodded two of her metal fingers at his chest. “ _But I just wanna make one thing crystal clear if I haven’t already. I wanna help Shine get some of his memories back and get him out of the rut he’s in. I ain’t doin’ this for me; I don’t really wanna remember half the stuff I experienced back there, and I certainly ain’t doin’ it for you. I’ll grin and bear whatever crap you throw my way, but in between then, I don’t wanna see your face. Got that?”_

“Right.”

“ _Before I go, tell me where you wanna start.”_

“Well, from the start. I know Shine mentioned you had a family before GeL, so why not talk about that? It would give you time to prepare."

“ _Deal. And eat a mint or something before then, those noodles really stink up your breath.”_ Curio glanced at Shine and softened her expression. “I’ll be back, I just need to be alone for a bit.”

She stormed off towards the front door and slammed it upon leaving. Shine and Tony stared at each other for a moment as the clock silently ticked in the background.Finally, Shine broke the silence.

“ _Are you alright?”_ He asked, rushing to his side. “ _I’m terribly sorry about that; I really didn’t think she’d blow up that way.”_

“No, no, it’s perfectly fine,” Tony said, adjusting his glasses. “I had a feeling this was going to happen. You always have to prepare for rejection if you’re trying to interview someone else.”

“ _But it’s still not right, coming from her. I thought she was going to kill you.”_

“Eh, I’ve dealt with worse at work. At least I’m doing this of my own accord and not silently tolerating it. What’s more important is that you have a friend that can help you confront your past.”

“ _Alright. Fair enough.”_

After Tony finished his dinner, he was in the middle of assembling the lighting set up in his studio: a small room that was essentially an extension of the living room with a couch of its own, except with no windows and various cabinets full of equipment. Shine sat in one corner on a cushion, preparing himself for the inevitable, when...

_“Boo.”_

Curio stepped in and Shine jumped from his seat.

“You could’ve knocked before coming in.”

“Well,” Curio said, “Your trainer didn’t mention anything about not coming in, so there’s that.”

“Point. Still, it’s common practice to. Have you calmed down now?” 

“A little. Don’t get the wrong idea and think I’ve got the warm fuzzies for your trainer yet, though.” Curio wandered off to where Tony was, adjusting the light settings on one of the stands. _“What’re these for?”_

“We’re indoors, so we need the light to be as bright as possible.”

_“Huh.”_ She raised a paw in front of a light, casting a shadow onto the walls and making a snapping motion with it like a Croconaw puppet. _“Oh, I see! Like the ones in the back of those sets.”_

She threw her bag onto one of the couch cushions before jumping on the seat, and shielded her eyes from the light.

“I’ll turn it down just a bit.” The light in the room dimmed and Tony sat down next to the camera as Shine followed, sitting beside his legs.

_“This is feeling kinda weird already,”_ Curio said, crossing her arms. _“So how does this work? Do I just talk into a camera, is that all I do? Doesn’t make for a very good flick if it just has a Lucario staring into a screen. Maybe if this was an art house film or something, like that one shot of Jubilife Tower that went on for eight hours.”_

“I’m surprised you know about that, but I can assure you it’s nothing like that. We’ll be shooting some B-roll footage and other clips to go along with the shots, plus we can always edit what we need to so there’s more variety.”

_“If it helps,”_ Shine said, _“Treat the camera as if it’s not there and just look at me when you’re talking. See if that works, and tell us when you’re ready.”_

_“I guess.”_ She fidgeted in her seat, trying to find the most comfortable position where she wasn’t squashing her tail, and relaxed. At last, she took a deep breath and smiled. _“I’m ready.”_

Tony nodded and held up three of his fingers in one hand with his other on the REC button. Silently, he counted down, and the camera beeped.

“This is interview B, first few questions, take one. Who are you?”

_“Well, my name is Curio, and I’m a Lucario, I guess.”_

“And what do you do?”

_“What do I do? Well, what do Pokémon usually do? I don’t think lots of people ask that about me. I travel a lot, meet a lot of people and Pokémon in between, teach a few Pokemon how to speak if I need some grub, watch a lot of movies and make stuff sometimes.”_

“What sort of stuff?”

_“Hah, well it’s kinda dorky, but I guess I can show you somethin’.”_ She reached into her bag and pulled out a model of a Noctowl, similar to the Magikarp she gave to Leafeon, except in full scale. She turned it around in her paw.

_“I was sleeping rough in Hearthome after I escaped, and one of the things I did during the day was visit the local scrapheap for anything I could find. You find lots of interesting things humans just dump there, you know, like whole bits of furniture and all sorts of valuable scraps. I made friends with this wild Noctowl that browsed through the trash there, and I wanted to make this for him using the stuff I found there._

_I think it took me a few days, but when I finished it, he only looked at it once and said his farewells, so I just kept it, I guess. That was around the time I found this bag, so I’ve been piling a lot of stuff on over the years. It’s been a godsend, let me tell you.”_

“That looks good,” Tony said, to which, Curio frowned.

_“Yeah, for a Pokémon, you mean.”_

“No, I’m actually impressed. I might not look it, but that’s how I feel. It’s just nice meeting someone creative, that’s all.” 

Curio paused, glaring at him, and by then, Shine had seen that look often enough that he knew she was trying to read into Tony’s thoughts.

_“Alright, I believe you.”_

He nodded and stopped recording. Curio shoved the curio back into the bag, which despite looking as big as the bag itself, fit perfectly into it.

_“That was it?”_

“No,” Tony said, “I’m just separating each question per video. It saves me a lot of time by doing that instead of going at it all at once.”

_“Shouldn’t we try that again though? I screwed up near the end.”_

“It’s fine. Edit it in post, as they say.”

_“Yeah, whatever.”_ She shrugged it off and reclined back into her seat, shooting Shine a smirk. “That wasn’t half bad, actually.”

Shine returned the smile.

“Alright, tell me when you’re ready and I’ll ask the next question.”

_“Ready.”_

Tony clicked the REC button again and announced the second shot to the camera.

“Now, what was your life like before you were brought to GeL?”

_“Well, nothing too spectacular, that’s kinda what brought me there in the first place. My parents made whoopee, I got squeezed out, and I hatched from an egg onto a little island only me and my family inhabited. The end. Nah, I’m just kidding. There’s a lot more to it than that._

_Where I want to start is how my interest in humans began. You’re all such weird creatures. You can grow facial hair, you can walk on two legs, and you have completely different rules to what Pokémon have. No Pokémon could’ve come up with a society where they make us lesser beings fight, after all. Probably, don’t quote me on that. But that’s what I found so delightful about you humans; the way you moved, the way you acted, it was all strange, and I wanted to see how it all worked. That’s what’s led me to where I am now._

_You could say its my own fault I ended up this way, and you’d be right. But, that’s life, I guess. And if this is going to be the story about my life, I should probably tell you about Mom first."_


	9. Oh Wait, We're Recording?

_'I call my name aloud, looking for what I remember. My name I know, I love going to the movies._

_I turn and see my childhood home, on this new beach where strange birds fly. These birds swoop right over, looking out for me._

_"Who is she?"_  
"Where does she come from?"  
The birds sang so loud.'

[Julia Holter – Lucette Stranded on the Island](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh0b2jI0iGg)

**The Island Arc**

Chapter 9. Oh Wait, We're Recording?

  
I owe a lot to Mom for leading me to this path. Of course, said path was formed with my blood, sweat and tears, but if it wasn’t for her, or my brother, I probably wouldn’t have gone to GeL or had any interest in human life for that matter. For one thing, Mom was both a good friend of mine and a great storyteller.  
  
So in that way, why not start it off with a story she told me? She was the sort of Pokemon who could speak for hours on end and you’d never get bored, but it took a while for her to hit her stride. Before, she would either keep you up all night with stories of hunts gone awry, tales of bloodshed and other sob stories, or lull you to sleep with those about compassion between strangers, unexpected comforts in the wild and all that other sweet crap. There was either too much or too little misery involved, but the ones I remember the most had the best of both. You could say the same about any good story, couldn’t you?  
  
That’s probably why I remember what she said, word for word, as she told it many times to me and my three brothers. We would sit around a campfire in the middle of our island huddled in one spot deep inside the forest, casting an orange glow everywhere. You couldn’t get any more comfy than that.  
  
Out of respect, I guess I better give all my relatives names. Unlike humans, for us Pokemon, names have little importance as they’re abstract, not something you can smell or hunt. My family deserves more than that though. The two youngest were Twig and Stumpy, who were both Riolu. The eldest was Trunks, a Lucario. Then there were my parents, who were both Lucario as well. Go figure. Mom didn’t have a name, but if any name was fitting for her, it would be Ruti, but she’ll still be Mom for now. Dad though was another case, but I’ll get to that later.  
  
Okay, maybe I ran out of ideas for tree related names. Cut me a break, I just came up with them on the fly.  
  
Anyway, that night, she went through her usual rota of stories, and while some of them were fairly new and kept our tails on the ground, we tuned out whenever she went through something we heard one too many times, except for Twig. The runt was entertained regardless of what you told him.  
  
Before that though, none of her stories had names as a lot of them were interchangeable. Maybe she didn’t feel as if they deserved them. That all changed when she announced this particular story would be called ‘Wild Brides and Shifting Tides’, the first to have a proper name. As she did so, the light of the fire reflected in both her red and green eyes and immediately captivated us. Keep in mind that some of the stuff she said translates poorly to the human tongue, so think of this as my version. Creative liberties and all.  
  
**Firstly, there was a wild bride,  
who bore multi-coloured eyes and an unkempt hide.  
She would venture into alien territories  
and listen to those smooth-skinned beings’ stories,  
Of those who wished to be the best and most wealthy,  
those who wanted to travel and those who wished to be healthy.  
She would listen for days, enthralled by their song,  
and wishing deep down that she could become one.  
  
Secondly, there was the melancholic groom  
whose eyes were a dull red, but fur fine as a bundled broom.  
He had lived amongst those alien creatures  
who once acted as his guardians and teachers,  
only to be released into the wild yonder,  
and with no one to care for him, he left to aimlessly wander.  
He would hunt alone with a void growing in his heart,  
and wished to find someone to bond with, to make a new start.  
  
One day, the bride met one such alien up close,  
face furious and frightening, and clad in dark clothes,  
he summoned a beast, one devoid of compassion,  
as it clawed at the poor bride in such a ruthless fashion.  
It overpowered her and left her in a state of rapture,  
wracked with bruises and cuts, she was doomed for capture,  
then the wanderer heard her cries,  
and dashed to her as swiftly as a Wingull to the skies.  
He stood between the bride and the beast,  
warding it and the alien off, at last she was at peace.  
  
When she next awoke, her body felt anew,   
as if a spell had been cast on her, it ended all so soon,  
the wanderer stood before her, offering his paw,  
and for the rest of their days, they ventured together forevermore.**  
  
We were stunned. While most of us processed what we heard, Stumpy of course sobbed, which ruined the mood a little, and Trunks tried comforting him by rubbing his back. It worked, and eventually Stumpy worked his way down to sniffling every once in a while, which was a minor improvement. Regardless, when Mom asked us if we enjoyed it, we all said it was the best she ever told. Even though Twig was easy to please, he had to ask what it all meant, but any Riolu with half a brain could’ve put two and two together and figured out who the characters of the story were.  
  
Although most of my siblings didn’t question the meaning of the story as far as I knew, I was curious about the aliens she talked about. I could tell she meant the alien wasn’t a Pokemon, but if that was the case, what was it? The sort of things she talked about like the smooth skin and the clothes were new to me, so naturally, I was curious.  
  
When it came time to sleep, me and my siblings settled down for the night, and I closed my eyes, yet I stayed awake. That was a first. No matter what I did to try and lull myself back to sleep, repeating one of the other stories Mom told me about a Skitty who ate that rare berry once and had the best dream in its short lifespan afterwards, probably before they got devoured by something bigger, her story kept coming back to me. If the lines didn’t have so much rhythm and flow, I probably wouldn’t have obsessed over it so much. I tossed and turned for what must’ve been an hour before I decided I had enough.  
  
I opened my eyes again, staring at the swaying leaves that blocked the sky, then stood up, slinking past my sleeping siblings and taking care not to trip over their tails. I went looking for answers from Mom.  
  
Usually, during the day, Mom basically wore the blue pants of the family, with Trunks helping her. Dad mostly kept to himself, although he’d talk to both of them whenever we weren’t looking and instructed them on what to do. Mom taught us how to sustain ourselves on the island when she and Dad eventually passed away, played with us on the treetops or by the sea, or helped us fish for food for the day.  
  
Just to digress a bit, there weren’t a lot of food choices on the island. Nothing inhabited it beside us, so there was little to hunt. I mean, we tried to grow our own food, of course. On the rare chance Dad popped up to meet us that one time, he tried to teach all of us a bit about farming after he planted some seeds he gathered from the mainland. He told us to wait for it to grow while remembering to give it water from the lake from time to time, but no matter how long he waited, the results weren’t fruitful, so in the end, he just kicked at it and abandoned the patch. I didn’t really understand why he bothered if he just rage quitted anway, but I went about my day as usual after that and didn’t question him about it.  
  
I could end the story here and say my family starved to death and I survived by eating them, but thankfully, there were always Magikarp for us to gather.  
  
They swam close to the shoreline and because of that, we didn’t have to hold our breaths to catch them. We’d grab them with our paws and bite down on their necks so they wouldn’t flail around. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable, but we did what we did to survive, and afterwards, Mom took our findings and de-boned them. It was extra effort as we could’ve just as easily eaten them raw, but she preferred to make dishes out of them, particularly skewers and steaks, which they cooked over the fire. If we were particularly lucky, we’d find an Octillery, gang up on it and make a meal out of that. Those tasted even better. Now I mention it, I could murder an Octillery right now.  
  
Wait, that came out wrong, didn’t it? Kind of makes me sound like a bloodthirsty killer, but whatever, I’m getting sidetracked.  
  
In any case, I searched for my parents on the outer rim, which didn’t take very long. Even though I couldn’t quite read thoughts yet, the aura still connected me with everyone on the island as we shared a link together. We were never too far away as the island wasn’t particularly big; you could’ve hiked around its perimeter in the morning and there would still be plenty of sun left after you were finished.  
  
I ran towards their wavelengths then crept behind a tree as the two rough-housed on a rocky stage. It was rare to see Dad when he wasn’t on his lonesome, and yet, I was excited to see him once again, so I rushed into the fray, climbing on top of Dad’s head as he charged up an aura sphere.  
  
“Hey, hey, hey!” he shouted, grasping at his head to catch me. He picked me up by the skin of my neck like some ragdoll. “What are you doing here so late?”  
  
“Well,” I said, “Ya looked like you were having fun, so I thought I’d join ya!”  
  
Dad shook his head, turning me over to meet my mother’s gaze.  
  
“How should we punish her then?”  
  
Mom, always the one to come up with stuff on the fly, flashed that toothy grin of hers.  
  
“Throw her in the ocean and have her sleep with the fishes?”  
  
“No please!” I pleaded in mock horror, “Anythin’ but that!”  
  
Dad let me go without warning and I fell on my ass. While I nursed my tail, the two stood before me, arms crossed.  
  
“Seriously, pup, you shouldn’t be here at this time of night. Why are you up?”  
  
“Well, I can’t stop thinkin’ about the story Mama told me.”  
  
“That’s it? If I knew it would give you nightmares, I wouldn’t’ve let her tell it.”  
  
I stood up, waving my paws in the air.  
  
“No, no! It wasn’t scary or anythin’, I loved it! I can’t stop thinkin’ about the lines and I can’t rest cause of that, and it won’t let up ‘til I find out what they’re about and—“  
  
“Okay.” Mom stopped me. “I see what you mean. What did you want to ask?”  
  
“The aliens and such. I know the rest actually happened to you two, but it hurts my head to think about what they’re supposed to be.”  
  
At that moment, a sharp change of emotions emanated from Dad’s aura. He usually radiated a negative energy, the kind of thing that comes with unpleasant memories, but that time, it was even more potent than before. It showed an awful mix of fear and sadness, although his face didn’t change. What he actually thought about, I had no idea, at least at the time anyway.  
  
Mom picked me up and stroked my ears.  
  
“Honey, I’d like to talk with her alone for a bit.”  
  
He gestured a paw for her to come closer to him, and whispered. I tried to lean in to listen, but they pulled away before anything could reach me, then Mom carried me over towards the sea away from Dad, sitting on a rocky area, and looked at me with a caring aura.  
  
“How much do you know about both our pasts?”  
  
“Well, not a lot, you never chatted to me about it, but there’s a lot about ‘em in the stories. I know there’s more out there, with all kindsa Pokemon with different looks from ours, not just on this rock. Those Magikarp had to come from somewhere.”  
  
“Well spotted, dear.” She faced the ocean, waves illuminated by the moonlight. “We’re in a series of islands known as, well, it’s not easily explained.” She meant an archipelago. “Even bigger than that, we’re in the region known as Sinnoh, a large cluster of land. That’s where the aliens live.” She faced me again. “Well, that’s a little bit of a lie.”  
  
“Aw, why?” I eyed her with scorn, as lying was something Dad told us to never do. You know how the saying goes.  
  
“It’s mostly to do with Dad. He has some memories he doesn’t want to dig up. But let’s say aliens aren’t the correct word for them. Rather, they’re humans.”  
  
I won’t go through every detail of what she said as it’s common sense to any Pokemon who hasn’t been living under a rock, but she explained what they were like: Smooth skinned, wore clothes, grew facial hair, could mostly walk on two legs, yadda yadda yadda. Then she went on to explain how the world worked and what Pokemon were to them.  
  
“Why do they want to capture us?” I said.  
  
“So they can train us and take us along with them on their quest to be the best, whatever that’s supposed to mean.”  
  
“Doesn’t sound fun.”  
  
To that, Mom laughed, pulling me closer to her.  
  
“I never thought it would be much fun either, and I’m glad I never took that route. Your father, however, was born into it, so he didn’t really have much choice.”  
  
At that point, a light switch went off in my head, or whatever the equivalent of that was back then. I thought back to the story and the info she gave me on the true nature of those aliens, or rather, humans, and she must’ve read my thoughts since she squeezed me tightly.  
  
“So I shouldn’t trust them?”  
  
“It’s complicated. Maybe if things were different, but let’s just say you should avoid them for now. They shouldn’t come anywhere close to this island, and if they do, your father will chase them off, you hear? He works hard to protect this place when he’s alone.”  
  
I hummed in reply and rubbed my head. It was a lot to take in. But something about her aura felt wrong, like it didn’t match what she actually said, but her true thoughts were tucked away behind a lock, not allowing me to reach out to them. Before I questioned her, Mom pulled me away and put both paws on my shoulders, locking me in her gaze.  
  
“I can see you’re confused so I’ll leave it there for now. If you’re curious to find out more, let me know and we can talk some more at night, or even with your eldest brother if you wanted as he’s had his share of experience. But...” She held my head. “Please don’t talk about this with anyone else, especially not your father. The others don’t need to know yet and he doesn’t want to relive those memories. Keep thinking back to that story and what I told you if you have trouble understanding. Am I clear?”  
  
I was speechless. My gut still told me to ask more, but I took the hint, so I nodded, if it gave me any excuse for her to stop leering at me.  
  
“Good,” she said, “Now, go get some sleep.”  
  
Before I went, she pulled me in again for a kiss then let me go for me to make my own way back to our den. Thankfully, no one else was awake to ask me what I was doing up so late, so I curled up back into my spot and rehearsed the story again in my head. After a few repeats, a pang of anger welled inside me. Was that really what life was like outside that island? What would happen if one of those humans came down to our island? Or worse, what would happen if they met me? Over time, I got more tired as the questions faded into the background, and I went to sleep not long after.


	10. My First Weird Encounter

I guess the other big reason my interest in humans grew was Trunks, my big brother. If Mom wore our blue pants, then he was the butt that held those pants in place, if that makes sense. He was usually the one looking after me and my brothers, making sure to play with us if Mom wasn’t around and attending to our needs if we ever got injured or needed his advice.

If there’s one memory that stuck out to me around that time, it was one morning when he gathered us little monsters together for a training session on the rocky shore. I remember it was a particularly nice day where the skies were a true blue, yet the wind was strong, with leaves flying everywhere and the taste of sea salt wafting in the air. Trunks was in the middle of all of this, standing atop a rock where the leaves flittered around him, making him the centre of attention. Young me thought he looked awesome, so I was eager to please him.

“You three,” he said, “Today is an aura training day, so you should follow my movements and try to imitate me as best as you can.” He stood on the balls of his feet and balanced himself on one leg in a stance. He cupped his paws in the shape of a ball around his belly, and told us to copy his moves. So, it was basically glorified yoga with glowing energy balls involved. I got on fine, as I was good at balancing myself atop of tree branches, but Stumpy, wobbled as he tried to stand on the tips of his paws, and Twig, well, he just did what Twig did and struck a random pose. He was a hatchling, after all.

“Good work, sis.” Trunks said. “You two, focus.”

“I-I’m trying!” Stumpy said, “Can’t we just stand on both legs?”

“Stand on both legs! Stand on both legs!” Twig said.

Trunks didn’t break from his position, but still stared at the two.

“We could, but the point is to copy what I do so you can imitate how I channel my aura.”

“Aw, why?” Stumpy said, breaking from his position. “It’s not like we fight anything anyway!”

“No, but you should still train anyway. Dad wants you to be strong, so you can be like him one day and take over for him after time has passed.”

That struck me as odd. I had to break away from my own perfectly matched pose to express this.

“Hey, bro,” I said. “You’re strong as well. Why can’t we be like you?”

He smiled, probably humbled by my comment, but still kept his pose.

“You can do that too. But I mostly do as he asks by looking after you along with Mum, so, you should follow his example.”

“But Papa rarely sees us. Why can’t he just, ya know, come out and teach us himself?”

Trunks took a deep breath and slowly got back to his normal stance. He sat down on the rock, gesturing us to come close to him as he radiated an unsure aura.

“Listen, you three. You should know Dad cares about you a lot. He just prefers to be on his own, that’s all. He went through so much to get us here, and needs his time alone to meditate on what happened. Besides, in case anything does come to this island suddenly and attacks us, he wants to be there to protect you.”

He either could’ve referred to a Pokemon or a human, but in any case, we all nodded, not really wanting to argue with him. Though Stumpy looked tearful, as he usually did.

“I miss Daddy sometimes. We live together, so why can’t he ever play with us?”

“Play with us! Play with us!” Twig mimicked.

“Yes, I know.” Trunks patted him on the shoulder, giving a weak smile, though there was a bit of sadness mixed into his aura. “But you have me and Mom, and your sister to keep you company.”

“Me too! Me too!”

“Yes, I didn't mean to forget about you, hatchling. But for now, we should get back to practising.” He stood up and re-entered that weird pose of his, with all of us following suit. The rest got on fine, and once we passed that stage, Trunks took a deep breath and honed his aura energy into his paws. He told us to do the same, and so, I drew in my own energy as well, feeling a hot glow emanate from inside my body and manifest into something physical.

It would’ve been magical if that bit of aura I drew out wasn’t the size of a pea. Still, the rest hadn’t even gotten to that stage, so in my case, that was considered a breakthrough, which he applauded. In the end, Trunks shot his sphere into the air while I shot my pea, and all was well.

I should really stop saying pea. That sounds wrong when I say it in this scenario.

We trained until the afternoon, and after we were left to my own devices, I went on my lonesome and skipped through the woods, navigating through the many twisting roots and broken branches and all the like. Trunks’ sessions usually energised me, which often left me with a pang of energy afterwards, so I skipped for a while, unaware of where I headed.

When I finally came out of the forestry into the shore, that’s when I saw a human for the very first time with my own eyes.

I froze at the sight of the girl and her Prinplup. Again, I didn’t know at the time what species it was exactly, but with that beak and that deep blue body, it does kind of narrow it down. But yeah. I don’t know what I expected humans to look like, even when Mom gave me an idea of their appearance, but she made it sound like they were monsters, though to me, they just seemed like another species, like a Pokémon. Although I didn’t know it yet, she was a trainer, and just like Mom said: she grew hair, wore clothes and had smooth skin. She dripped wet for whatever reason and didn’t have a lot of clothes covering her.

For that moment, time stood still. When she saw me, she whispered something to that blue Pokémon of hers and they stood in front of her in a battle stance.

I realised the kind of situation I was in rather quickly. I was about to get into a fight and I stood there, dumbstruck. At the same time though, there was a chance they only looked to defend themselves from a wild Pokémon and only acted out of survival instinct. I had questions as well, and being attacked was the last thing I wanted to happen. A friendly approach seemed better than a pointless fight after all. I snapped out of my headspace and called out to them, waving a paw in the air. The Prinplup eased their stance a little and I slowly approached them, but the girl’s expression was still a little unsure.

“I’m not gonna harm y’all,” I said, “I just wanna talk, okay?”

The Prinplup held their paw out to the trainer. It could’ve been a ceasefire or a command to attack, but thankfully, she smiled, letting me know we were at peace with each other. She crouched so she could be at my level.

Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t understand a word of what she said, but either way, her voice was reassuring and warm in a way you wouldn’t get from a Riolu or Lucario, which mostly sounds like we’re hacking up hairballs. She chuckled and petted my head. Those hands. Wow, they were smooth. Joy overtook reason and I growled the same way I would've with Mom. Then that squawky voice had to ruin the moment.

"Ugh, I'm going to vomit."

I couldn't hear what the human said, but the way they went back and forth with each other as if they understood each other seemed strange to me.

"Wait," I said, "Can you understand her?"

"Yeah, duh."

"No duh! Can she understand you though?"

"Nope. She just has a good ear for disapproval."

That was a let down. Even if Mom told me beforehand, I wasn't used to being ignored like that. Still, that wouldn't stop me from getting my way if the Prinplup relayed what I said back to her, who continued petting me.

"How'd you get here?" I asked.

"Surfed here."

"Surfed? Nevermind. Say, what’s the world like out there? Is it nice?”

He shrugged. “Nice as in you see a lot of interesting things. Nice as in I get to mooch off of my trainer for food, and sometimes, watch the sort of shows she likes together. Human programming is weird.”

I didn’t know what he meant by that, but that’s beside the point. Sure, I thought about what the world was like outside for some time, but having someone there who actually experienced it, with a human no less, enticed me to check it out myself. Before then, I wasn’t really desperate, but at that moment, flashing through my days spent on the island, something inside me flicked on, like a light switch. Now, my vague interest turned into a burning resolve.

“Can you take me with you for a bit? Just for a little, tiny bit. I wanna come back here though."

The Prinplup put his flipper on the girl's shoulder and pointed to her belt, then back to me. I looked up to see several shiny balls coloured red and white. No points for guessing what their purpose was. I didn't know at the time so I just stared at them until the trainer pulled away from me and smiled, saying something else in that same warm tone, then pulled out on of those balls and held it in front of me. She looked at me expectantly, pointing to the Pokéball she held up, and I raised my paw to it.

I wonder what would've happened had I touched that Pokéball and went with her. She seemed nice, after all, and I probably would've avoided all the stuff that happened at GeL beforehand. At the same time, I probably would’ve lived a mediocre life for a Pokemon if I had, and even with the horrors I went through, I wouldn’t trade it for something safer now.

"GET AWAY!" Dad's voice resounded through the air. The trainer broke off from me and in turn, he dashed towards the two. Not knowing what else to do, I ran away from them, getting as far as I could from the ensuing battle.

Without prompt, Dad threw an aura sphere at the Prinplup's head, which he blocked with a flipper, knocking him back several places. The trainer ran to his place and pointed at Dad, shouting a command of some sort, and he spouted a stream of water from his mouth. It was quick, but Dad was quicker, dodging to the side as he threw a punch at his face, which connected. Even when the Prinplup fell to the floor, Dad still didn't stop. Punch after punch, the Prinplup could only shield himself from the onslaught. Then, the girl stood between them.

I saw how fearful she was through her pained expression and her aura. When you're faced with a creature that has freaking spikes in their paws, you're pretty much at their mercy. Nevertheless, she spoke in a calm voice to him, although I wasn't sure how much good it did. Would he even understand her?

_"Get out,"_ he said in human tongue. Those were the first words I understood in human. He said it so plainly, yet from his aura, I knew he hid a massive amount of anger, so it left an impact on me.

She helped the Prinplup to his feet and departed not long after, setting sail on its back to surf across the sea.

I stood in silence. I hadn't seen Dad act like that before, if I ever did, not even when he told us off. Then, he walked towards me, still having that raging look on his face, and my heart quickened a bit as he approached. Would he have shouted at me again, like he did whenever I broke one of his rules? My fears melted away though as he picked me up, cradling me in his paws.

"Are you alright, pup?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good." He gently lifted me down to the rocky floor and I saw his expression relaxed, although those red eyes still stared into my soul. "In the future, if you're ever to meet one of those things again, run as far as you can. Don't go up to them. If they let them capture you, they will make your life a living hell, do you understand?"

I didn't know what to say at the time so I nodded and went along with it. My family came not long after, giving me lots of relieved hugs, and we had a big serving of Grilled Magikarp. Once we finished, Mom took us over to that story spot once more and told us a new poem she had been sitting on for some time. It was a little more free verse than her other stuff, and I didn’t really know what to think of it at the time, but I still accepted it like any other, so I thought I’d share it here. Again, it’s not exactly a direct translation, so take it with a grain of salt.

**So sings the sea serpent,  
Can’t you hear his song?  
His children, a choir,  
harmonise in the deep blue.**

**The entire ocean is his school,  
and the fish that swim there  
are all his pupils, navigating the sea beds  
dancing with the Mantine and brushing against the Corsola.**

**So sings the sea serpent:**  
“ **I’ve lived for thousands of years!  
My blue crown stands tall!  
My verse lives through millions of Magikarp!  
I split the skies with my Hyper Beams!”**

**He lurks beneath the surface,  
Warning his students not to stray too far,  
Lest they be caught by bigger predators in singles,  
Or captured by aliens in hundreds.**

**So sings the sea serpent.**

After giving her a round of applause, we settled down for the night and all was well again. Well, sort of. Despite what Dad told me, meeting a human for the first time wasn't even a bad experience, a far cry from what Mom made it out to be, and aside from that, my thirst to see the world hadn’t been quenched yet. That itch inside still nagged at me, and it was something that could’ve only been scratched by meeting another human again.


	11. Bottoms Up, Bro

After that bit of excitement, everything fell into a routine as we hunted Magikarp as normal, we playfighted as normal, we told stories as normal, we slept as normal, repeat and repeat. Although I was satisfied with the answers I got and faced every day as it came, over time, a pit grew in my stomach and I didn’t realise what this hunger was until I saw a bird Pokémon perch itself atop the trees as I walked across the shore. It probably knew there was more out there, and that’s what I felt was missing, the sense of being connected to the rest of the world.  
  
I sprang towards the forest, climbing to the treetops in no time, where the Pokémon sat a few trees away, preening its feathers. I balanced myself on one of the highest tree branches and jumped from tree to tree in an effort to get close to it. Again, some details are fuzzy, but I believe it was a Wingull. It had the same blue streaks across its body, after all.  
  
Anyway, it eyed me cautiously, and suddenly, I felt giddy. This was my chance to find out my escape route. Another chance to talk with something else other than Riolu and Lucario. Who knows? Maybe as a bonus, I could’ve hunted it and brought it back for Mom to cook. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, after all.  
  
“Hey, can you fly me to the mainland?” I said.  
  
“Whaddo I look like, a Pelipper? I’m not givin’ you a ride with that fat behind.”  
  
“...Do you know anyone else that can fly me there, then?”  
  
It took flight and fluttered above me. Then, a white runny liquid hit the top of my head and ran down my face. I don’t need to mention what it was.  
  
In a panic, I lost my footing and fell off the branch. I got smacked by all sorts of different branches on the day down until a bush broke my fall, not without scratching me with those brambly bits. To say I was sore afterwards was an understatement. Nothing was broken, thank his holy ass, just bruised and battered all over. To add insult to injury, I stank. I had to get the acrid stench off of me as soon as I could, so I limped to the closest stream I could find in the forest running from the lake and dunked my head in it several times to wash it off. Even after I rinsed off the droppings, a whiff of it still lingered.  
  
Just so you know, if you talk to any unknown Pokémon unannounced, especially flying Pokémon, they probably won’t stick around for the conversation. At best, you’ll get a face full of bird seed.  
  
I ran my paws through my coat to find all sorts of splinters sticking to it. I tried to pick most of it off but I wasn’t sure if it had gotten in places I couldn’t reach. I had to get them out or they probably would’ve gotten septic, even though I had no idea what ‘septic’ meant at the time. It was something Trunks told me after all.  
  
Lo and behold, I picked up his aura not too far off, straight from the path of the stream into the lake. Although my legs were sore, I found my way there without trouble. He had already occupied himself, meditating by the lake at the edge of the bank. The tire swing swayed lightly in the breeze far away. Once I stepped into the clearing, he turned around and scoffed.  
  
“Alright,” he said, “What trouble have you gotten into now?”  
  
I scratched my back.  
  
“I got splinters in my butt.”  
  
“Seriously? Alright, come here then.”  
  
I sat on the bank beside him, dipping my paws into the water, and Trunks started combing through my fur.  
  
“You don’t always need to climb so high, you know.”  
  
“And what’s the problem? I was just takin’ a peek up there.”  
  
“Yes, but you’re going to break your neck if you keep falling.”   
  
I winced as he pulled out something brambly behind me.  
  
“And you could use a long bath too.”  
  
I sat in silence while he kept checking for splinters.  
  
“Tell me, why do you want to get off the island?”  
  
“How’d you know?”  
  
“Your aura, of course.”  
  
“Well, why not?” I said, kicking the water, “I wanna see the world out there.”  
  
“There’s nothing out there but predators and starvation. That’s all.”  
  
“Aw c’mon, Mama told me you had experience out there before, can’t you tell me more?”  
  
“No. Trust me when I say you don’t need to know.”  
  
I pulled myself away from his grasp and turned to him, giving him those little Riolu eyes.  
  
“Please? I swear I won’t be upset or anythin’. I kinda know the world sucks already, so at least tell me more about that.”  
  
He brushed a few more shavings off my coat, then leaned in closer to the point where his muzzle touched mine, gazing at my with those familiar blood red eyes. I saw a little bit of Dad in him at that moment.  
  
“Alright, you want to know how the world out there works? You’re completely on your own, with the threat of death lurking all around you. You must always be on alert, never letting your guard down for a moment, or else...”  
  
He clapped, snapping me out of my trance.  
  
“You’re gone.”  
  
He stared into the lake ahead of us, and up to the hanging tire.  
  
“There was a family, just like us, who we kept company for a little while. Some of them were just about your age. They still had to look out for themselves, as whenever we rested, we had to cover our own families in shifts to make sure nothing else lurked around. One such Lucario, who was supposed to be on shift for that night, forgot about it and rested with his family. We were woken up by their screams, and when we came to check on them, they...”  
  
Trunks’ voice trailed off and he rubbed his eyes, taking a deep, ragged breath. I looked on, wanting to get closer to him, but pulled away at the last moment. I didn’t really know how to comfort him in times like that. So I waited for him to pull himself together, and in time, he looked at me once more, resting his paw on mine.  
  
“Out here, you don’t have to worry about any of that. You have a constant food source. There are no tall creatures with poisonous claws lurking about. There are none of those humans invading our habitats either. Dad worked so hard to get us here, and now here we are, living in peace. You should be grateful towards him.”  
  
I paused, catching a whiff of something foul about his aura, and it certainly wasn’t the guano. It was like his feelings fought against what he said.  
  
“Yeah, I am. But, er, sorry if it sounds rude, bro, but you don’t feel the same way, do you?”  
  
He squeaked in surprise, but he regained his composure and leered at me. “Of course I do. Now please don’t make such things up.”  
  
“But, your aura...”  
  
“Enough of that, sis, now please, drop it.”  
  
I knew I wasn’t going to get any further from that, so I changed the subject.  
  
“Besides, isn’t every day here kinda the same? Don’t you get bored?”  
  
“Well,” he hesitated, and I felt a tinge of sadness in his aura if I didn’t already, “I would be lying if I said this isn’t boring, but I’d rather it be that way instead of in some other creature’s stomach.”  
  
I opened my mouth to say something but decided against it. I knew he was right. From the stories Mom told and all that, I thought of myself in his shoes. Well, you know we don’t wear them, but you know what I mean. I imagined myself on my own, defending myself from creatures much faster, stronger and less caring than me, as I would later find out first hand. Still, there was that itch to find out, like sticking your paw in a Combee’s nest.  
  
Mercifully, he let me go and patted my back, letting me know it was okay to move on before he got stuck in another one of his rants. He smiled to me.  
  
“There, it should be fine now. Make sure to clean those wounds or else they’ll get infected.”  
  
“Okay,” I said, and took a dip in that lake. I closed my eyes and let myself float on the surface, water lapping gently at my face, with Trunks meditating in the background. Another peaceful day, another long period of nothing happening. During that time, the weather got hotter as we often had to cool off by the lake, as living on an island in the summertime got humid after a while.  
  
One day, me and Stumpy brought our findings to Mom and Trunks from our daily fish hunt. They thanked us and let us run off to wherever, so we visited the lake again where the tire swing awaited. It was one of the island’s curiosities, since you know, tires don’t grow on trees, but this day, I kind of question how Dad managed to bring all the stuff there, but young me didn’t care as it was for swinging on, not pondering on. I went on top and held onto the rope as Stumpy kicked the tire in the air, pushing me up and letting me swing for a bit.  
  
That brings me back to a simpler time, as it sort of felt like flying. But with the thoughts of escape lingering on, as well as the bird type Pokémon that flew carefree in the air already, it was close to being free, and yet, so far. Wait, I did say it wasn’t for pondering on, didn’t I? Well then, forget what I said.  
  
Stumpy must’ve noticed a little bit of my aura, just a little as he wasn’t any better than me at reading emotions, so he moved out the way, slowing me down.  
  
“I didn’t say stop, did I?” I said, spinning around on the tire.  
  
“Yeah, I know, but why’re you feeling so sad lately?”  
  
I caught little glimpses of his worried face as I spun around.  
  
“Aw, it’s nothin’ to lose sleep over.”  
  
“It’s not that alien from before, is it?”  
  
“What?” I waited for the right moment to jump, then leapt off to the land where Stumpy stood. “No, not at all. Really, that was the most interestin’ thing I’ve seen in a while.”  
  
“They’re not interesting, they’re dangerous. Papa doesn’t want you going near them.”  
  
I groaned. Stumpy often repeated something along the lines of ‘Dad doesn’t want you doing this’, which was fair enough. Hearing it repeated several times over got annoying, and seeing how little brothers generally behave over the years to others, they tend to get under your skin.  
  
“So what does Papa want you to do?”  
  
He put his paw on his chin as if he was seriously thinking hard about what I just said. “Um, he wants me to be good, and strong, and stuff.”  
  
“Would you eat his dung if he told you it tasted nice?”  
  
“Ew, no!” He laughed.  
  
“Well then,” I reached down to him, locking him in a hold and knuckled his head. “Don’t do everythin’ he tells you to do.”  
  
“Stop!” He pulled away, rubbing his head. “You hurt, sis.”  
  
“Oh, you baby.” I thought back to the conversation we had a while ago. “It’s not like he sees you or anythin’. You said he never plays with you, so why’d you listen to him so much?”  
  
“He just scares me, sis. His aura’s so, so, so scary.” He got misty-eyed again. “He n-n-never has time for m-me, or big bro, or little bro, or you. What’s he d-doing all d-day?”  
  
He sniffled, and sensing he was about to throw a wobbler again, I patted his shoulder and pointed to the tire swing that idly spun in place.  
  
“At least you have us.” I smiled. “Want me to push you?”  
  
“Yeah.” He wiped away his tears and slowly climbed on top of the rubbery object. “Not too hard, though.”  
  
And so, it was my turn to do the rounds. I kicked once and watched the tire fly up with Stumpy hanging onto the rope for dear life. He was clearly not meant for big heights as he howled in the air, but he needed a bit more excitement in his life anyway, so I kept going. I stepped back whenever the tire swung towards me, as one wrong move would’ve knocked me on my ass, and continued kicking, sending it further into the air.  
  
Stumpy must’ve called me to do something, but since he was so far up, I didn’t hear him, so when he came down once more, I kicked again, only for Stumpy to fly off and fall into the lake. Hitting the water with a loud slap. Even I felt that one. I waited for him to swim back, and he did, only to start wailing as he swam to the edge of the bank.  
  
“I told you to slow down! I’m telling Mama about this!”  
  
I reached over to calm him down, but he batted my paw away from him and ran, disappearing into the forest. I shrugged and made my own way to the shore. It was best to leave him be during one of his fits, after all. Brothers, eh?  
  
I wandered through the stony shore again, which must've been the tenth or twentieth time since I met the last human. The summer rays often bored down on the rocks, so it used to burn my paws on the first hundred paces, but it felt nice once I got used to it. Since then, I had been around the island enough times to know where the landmarks were, what little it had, and could've mapped it out if you gave me a pencil and a pad.  
  
Problem was, it was nice and all knowing where everything was in your head, but being able to make it a physical thing would've helped me understand the terrain more. Another problem was marking and remembering each island that looked the closest, which sounded easy. You could put one finger at the end of your paw on the horizon and flex the end of the other to where the height of the island ended, and whichever flexed the farthest was the closest. But with no way to mark where each island was in relation to this one and what point you had to be on the shore to be the closest to a neighbouring island, it was just guesswork. I trusted my intuition though, as I could’ve swam for hours and not have gotten tired, after all.  
  
I must've walked a few hours on the edge of the shore, and in the midst of it, I got the sense I was being watched. I didn’t actually see the perp, but I just felt it, like I felt another aura of something a hundred times bigger than my puny Riolu body. It might’ve come from the sea, but it was as silent as always, so I ignored it and went on my way until eventually I saw two human-like shapes. I wasn't even sure of what they were from that distance; they could've passed for a couple of tree branches for all I knew, but once I got within a rock throwing distance of them and saw what they truly were, just a young couple sunbathing on the rocks, I retreated back into the forestry.  
  
Despite how much I wanted to stick it to my old Mon, his nagging voice telling me to 'run as far as you can' drilled into my head and followed me around like a swarm of Combees. Still, I wanted to see what they were up to, even though my heart pounded. I crept carefully through the forest, tip-toeing behind a tree while I watched my movements. They weren't really doing anything you'd consider interesting, just lying in the sun and talking to one another. Even for our own kind, that was something we naturally did, except we couldn't get a tan. Poor us, I guess.  
  
So I tried to get close to them, but long story short, the girl screamed when she saw me and ran away, while the guy shouted at me and ran after her. I considered chasing after them to try and calm them down, but I sensed something else that piqued my interest.  
  
My eyes wandered over to their belongings, which all looked new to me. It was some sort of basket on a blanket with two clear, bowl shaped objects. Of course, not knowing what purpose they had, I couldn't resist picking the shiny clear thing up. The moment I gripped it, it shattered in my paw, leaving shards of light to clatter onto the rocks. They were glasses all along. It's a wonder I didn't cut myself there.  
  
Next, I dug inside the basket, and when I opened the lid, something warm-smelling wafted from its contents. It was food. I licked my lips and stuck my paw inside it, feeling around for the morsel, and when I touched it, I pulled out a half eaten sandwich. The bread had a spongy feel to it, filled with a yellowy sort of substance, which I had to try for myself. I remembered the taste was quite strong, but in a different way from the fishy taste of the Magikarp we were used to having, but either way, it was delicious, and I practically inhaled the rest. It was disappointing to see there wasn't more of it, but then I noticed something else unusual.   
  
It was a larger glass bottle, except with actual liquid inside of it. I lifted it off the ground, except it was a bit heavier than I expected, so I held it in both paws and bolted for the forest with the bottle in tow.  
  
After wandering for a little while, I picked up the aura of all three of my brothers and went to meet them, and Trunks was the first to approach me.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, crossing his arms. "You know you shouldn't have gotten near those aliens."  
  
"Never mind that," I said, "Look what I found!"  
  
The rest huddled around me, observing the loot.  
  
"Whattisit?" Twig asked.  
  
"Well obviously, it's some sort of drink," I said.  
  
"It could be dangerous!" Stumpy said, looking better from his dip in the drink.  
  
"How so? Those hu-- I mean aliens were drinking it."  
  
"Still, you shouldn't have taken it! What would dad say?"  
  
"Well.” I wrung my paw around the bottle of the neck. "Only one way to find out!"  
  
Of course, not knowing how to open it, I struggled with the cap for a bit before it popped and made the two youngest jump. I didn't even hesitate to drink from it, but when I took a swig from it, I immediately spat it back out.  
  
I might as well tell you it was white wine, and you'll probably find it's not the last time alcohol comes up as a topic of discussion, but we might get to that at some point later.  
  
Anyway, it tasted horrible. Even when I spat it back out, the sting of it lingered on my tongue. Now I genuinely questioned whether or not it was poison.  
  
To my surprise, Trunks snatched the bottle and took a big swig out of it, scrunching up his face as he did.  
  
"Tastes alright to me, don't know what you're spitting it out for." He gave me a big smile, the first time in a while I ever saw him do that.  
  
Stumpy looked expectantly at the bottle.  
  
"Can I try?"  
  
Trunks only clutched the bottle in his paws.  
  
"Naw, it makes ya do weird things." By then, it started to affect his speech, but that didn't bother him as he took another swig. He laughed, hiccuping all the while.  
  
"C'mon, whattare y'all looking scared fer? Just join da fun!"  
  
I can't say I was scared by a lot, but even I backed away when he let go of the bottle and danced in place. It rolled on the ground, spilling some of its contents. Stumpy and Twig joined me, who both held onto my arm.  
  
"What's happening? Is he okay?" Stumpy said. I just looked on at the scene as Trunks span around, cackling to no one in particular.  
  
I never thought I'd say it, but thankfully, Dad intervened and stormed into the area, picking up the loot.  
  
"Who brought this?" he asked in a serious tone. Pipsqueak and runt both pointed at me, even though they still cowered from behind.  
  
"Hey! That's not fair, you two!"  
  
"Enough!" Dad shouted. "You idiot, I told you not to go anywhere near them, and you disobeyed me just like that!"  
  
I just croaked a response, too shocked for words.  
  
"Never mind, now we've got a bit more trouble on our paws, thanks to you." He held up the half empty bottle. "They'll come looking for this, you know, and they're nothing but trouble. All of you, go hide out with your mother. I'll sort this out myself."  
  
"Hol' up!" Trunks said, stumbling into Dad. "Ish' no big deal, I shaw you drink it a few timesh! Help yourshelf if you want!"  
  
"That's enough, pup. Consider this your lesson."  
  
"Wait!" Trunks glared at him. "Don't call me pup no more, I shaw what'sh out there, I'm big now, I can take care of theshe cubs!"  
  
Dad ignored him and walked off with the bottle in tow. I looked back at Trunks who struggled to stand, then back to the other two who whimpered nearby a tree. I held my paw up, drawing their attention to me.   
  
"Mama's close, I can feel it. Follow me!"  
  
We headed to the base we usually camped out for her story session, and Mom had her paws in some kind of box when I came in, where she looked at us all with her maw hanging open.  
  
"What's happening now?" she said. Trunks didn't waste any time before he showed off his drunken self, and attempted to cartwheel over to her but ended up falling on his ass. Mom instantly attended to him, lifting him up.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"Yesh, yesh I'm fine, mama! I drank a bit of that shtuff Dad used to drink!"  
  
Her eyes grew wide. While this happened, not knowing what Trunks was going through, my heart sank. It was rare for me to worry about him as he usually carried himself fine, if a bit overbearing, but seeing him like that, I wasn't sure what to expect. I ran up to her, misty-eyed.  
  
"Oh no, is he gonna die? Please tell me he's alright. Mom? Mom?"  
  
Out of nowhere, Mom laughed and pulled me up close to her.  
  
"I know what's going on. He's drunk, that's all!"  
  
"Drunk?" I asked, wiping the dust from my eyes.  
  
"Well, it's a bit hard to explain if you weren't with me, but it's what happens when you drink too much of what they call alcohol: your mind gets all fuzzy. It's usually quite toxic to a lot of Pokémon, but we can take it finer than most. How much did he drink?"  
  
"I dunno, two mouthfuls?"  
  
Her smile faded, but otherwise, she was still calm about the situation.  
  
"I see. He won't be used to that much right now, but otherwise, he'll be fine. He'll just have to get it out of his system, that's all."  
  
"What's that mean?"  
  
"You'll find out soon enough."  
  
We crowded around the two, staying close to Trunks in particular, who held his paw to his stomach and started to groan, then curled up on the grassy floor.  
  
"I don't feel sho hot."  
  
"Alright, alright," Mom repeated, rubbing his head as he laid down. He looked to me and smiled weakly.  
  
"Shorry 'bout all thish. I know I'm annoying shometimesh, barking at you all the time not to do shtuff, repeatin’ what Dad shaysh like a Chatot. You musht think I'm boring."  
  
I never heard him speak as honestly as he did. I knew this wasn't his usual self, but judging by his aura, I knew it was his true self.  
  
"No, bro. You're great. I know you're just looking out for me, like you do everyone else."  
  
"Thanksh." He fumbled around before planting his paws on the ground, sitting up, and looked down at his feet.  
  
"I hate thish. Shtaying here all day, all night, nowhere to go. Shorry Mom, I'm grateful for everything we did to come here, but I can’t shtand much longer here."  
  
Mom held onto him, hugging him tighter.  
  
"No need to apologise, you’re not the only one that thinks that here. Don't you prefer it to having to survive out there, though?"  
  
"Yesh." He paused, then tugged at the appendages at the back of his head. "No. Shure, it'sh miserable. Shure, we losht a lot of friendsh. But we went into the citiesh ash well. We had sho much fun there. We watched a lot of good filmsh. People liked ush as well. What happened to that? Wheresh that in the wild, or on thish rock?"  
  
Mom only smiled, rubbing him reassuringly. Trunks, in his hazy state, pointed to me.  
  
"Thish island'sh not big enough for you, shish. There'sh sho much out there you're misshing. No Pokémon deshervesh this. I--." He knelt on the floor far away from us, then blew chunks as Mom nursed him from behind. I looked on, thinking about everything Trunks had said. Even he had my back in this, as hard as it was to make out what he said half the time. My other brothers crept up to me, asking me what he was talking about. I said I didn't know and kept my eyes on getting out of the island as soon as this was over. Even though his slurred speech, it’s like he was giving me the go ahead to try and leave.  
  
Trunks calmed down long enough to doze off beside Mom, although his breaths were raspy from all the fluid he hacked up. Even if it wasn't severe, there was still a pang of guilt in my gut. She turned to Stumpy.  
  
"Please get your eldest some water from the lake, and fetch a bucket out of the box. Make sure to take your youngest with you, alright?"  
  
Stumpy nodded. I'm sure he was just relieved to get out of this situation. He got the wooden object out, which was a round shaped thing with a hole in the middle, and went off with the bucket in one paw and Twig's own paw in the other. I turned back to Mom who smiled at me.  
  
"So you stole the bottle off those humans, huh?"  
  
"How did you--"  
  
"Your thoughts don't lie, dear."  
  
"Am I in trouble?"  
  
"Oh, dear, it's no big deal. It's only natural for you to be curious, after all."  
  
"But I went close to those humans after you told me not to. Everyone else chewed me out for it, so yeah."  
  
"Well like I said, it's complicated. It's mostly your father who wants nothing to do with them, so I will respect that, but if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have the sort of stuff we do right now. Why do you think we cook our meals instead of eating them raw?"  
  
"Because it's better?"  
  
"Exactly. Plus, that tire swing didn't come from nowhere, we brought it here with us. You see what I mean?"  
  
I shook my head.  
  
"Alright, Pokémon don't usually come up with this stuff, you see. As much as your father hates them, we rely on them for these nice things. If only he didn’t act like such a stubborn old Mon sometimes."  
  
She lifted the lid of the box she toyed around with earlier and drew out a tattered block-shaped object, with bits of paper in it surrounded by a hard leather case.  
  
“Besides, where do you think I get my ideas for stories from?”  
  
I looked at it and put two and two together. “From there?”  
  
“Well spotted, my dear. This is a book written by humans from many different ages, called Sinnohan Myths and Fables. Humans have a lot of talents, and making up all sorts of different stories is one of them. These live on for ages, and get passed on from generation to generation. You could say they transcend time itself.”  
  
That part lost me, but I was still interested in the rest. She flipped through a few of the pages and while the human writing there was illegible to me, since I couldn’t read, I was interested in the pictures, of course. One picture in particular caught me interest, of His White Badness himself, Arceus. Of course, I didn’t know much of who he was, although Mom hinted at him in her stories. With that divine glow behind him, however, and that otherworldly look of his, he had a very powerful presence, even on a flat surface. She closed the book and put it to one side.  
  
“But my point is, you shouldn’t take what Dad says to heart. He means well, but he could do with eating a slice of humble pie every once in a while.”  
  
I cocked my head. “Pie? Is that nice?”  
  
"Oh it is, especially the Cheri ones, but that’s not the point.” She smiled and patted the top of the box. “Anyway, take a look in there. That thing’s full of human possessions you might like.”  
  
I pawed through each of the human oddments there. If I remember correctly, it had stuff like bits of paper, various shiny tools and other loose bits of soft and sharp things. I must've pricked my paw on one of those objects since I drew it out of the box only to find out I cut it. I sucked at the wound and continued to look inside, and what drew my attention the most was a notepad. I picked it out of the box out of all the items there and shook it around a little as sheets of paper waved in the air. I closed it and brought it to her as she smiled.  
  
"You can draw on that, dear."  
  
"Draw? Like with the stones on the rocks?"  
  
"Exactly, though you'd tear through the paper if you did it with those. You can use lots of other things to draw on it as well. We actually have crayons if you want to use them; you'll find them in the smaller box, dear."  
  
She held it for me as I got the crayons out, and I looked at them for a bit. They had all sorts of colours there I had never even seen before, like purple, would you believe I never saw purple before? All of them were so bright and kind of appetizing. Without thinking, I placed one in my mouth before spitting it back out.  
  
"They're made of wax dear, that's not edible. We don't need another sick Pokémon tonight."  
  
Again, I never said I was a smart kid, but still, you see something like that and you just want to eat it even though you probably shouldn't. Oh well. Natural selection will weed that out eventually when a dumber Riolu ends up choking on one.  
  
Anyway, I took out more of the other colours I liked and placed them next to the pad. I didn't know what to do next. Mom threw me a bone and showed me what to do by taking one of the crayons and making a squiggly blue line with it on the paper. It wasn't much, but to my young eyes, it was impressive. I snatched the crayon out of her paw and drew whatever came to mind: a scribbly blue sky that filled the entire page. Seemed simple, but to me at the time, it was like magic. Then she put everything back and handed it over to me.  
  
"I was saving this for when you were older, but really, you should have something else to do on this island. It's sad seeing you wandering around all day." She let it go in my paws and I must've looked at her as if I saw Arceus' face on a piece of tree bark.  
  
"Can I keep it?"  
  
"It's all yours."  
  
I jumped over to her, dropping everything I had in my paws to hug her. It was a much needed bright spot in the endless stretch of days that went nowhere. She returned it, squeezing me tight, and I made random scribbles as I stayed with her until my other brothers came with their water. The rest of the night passed with ease as I watched my brother come to his senses, albeit groggily. After dinner, some of his energy restored, but after that, we decided to leave storytelling for another night and settled down.  
  
I slept clutching my new present like a pillow. It was the first thing I had to call my own, really.  
  
The next day, Trunks woke up with a groan, and felt physically exhausted all day, so we had to do most of the work for him. When asked about last night’s incident, he distanced himself from the subject. Strangely enough, when I saw Dad next, his breath smelled of the same stuff Trunks drank.


	12. That Sinking Feeling

Soon enough, I made my own maps with the paper Mom gave me, so I walked through and started marking any island I saw. I flexed my paws to measure it as I explained before, and moved onto the next one, marking each one as a 2D object on a flat surface without actually knowing any of the concepts. Primitive, sure, but think back to when you were a kid and there was that same magic of discovery. I’d do anything to capture that magic as an adult now, but oh well, I try. I must've been halfway done, occupied in my own little world before Stumpy came out of the forest and threw me off whack.  
  
"What're you doing?" he asked.  
  
"Drawin’ this place." I showed him the progress I made.  
  
"That looks nothing like here."  
  
"Well duh, I'm drawing it as if it was flat, that's what I decided to do."  
  
"You're not up to something again, are you?"  
  
"Of course not." I didn’t want to outright shoo him away, but I didn’t want him following me around here. Not sure what to do, I just walked for a while. I guess he must’ve gotten bored since he disappeared into the trees, so I was left to my own devices again.  
  
Once the sky turned a dusky red, I was satisfied with my findings and got back to base to quell the beast in my stomach.  
  
I didn't need to mention what I ate. Hell, I think at that point, I ate so much fish I was ready to grow gills soon. Afterwards, Trunks and Stumpy crowded around me to look at my findings, and I figured it would shut Stumpy up if I went through it with him, so I shared my process.  
  
"Still doesn't look like an island to me," he said. I just blew a Razzberry at him.  
  
"Well," Trunks said, tracing his paw over the paper. "It's impressive you managed to do this. I actually saw maps back at the..." He trailed off, looking at Stumpy. I guess he remembered he wasn't supposed to tell anyone else. "You know what."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Stumpy asked, never afraid to ask the bleeding obvious.  
  
"Never mind. Still, keep going at it."  
  
He handed back the pad with a smile.  
  
"What else have you drawn?"  
  
My maw hung open as I stared back at the pad. I had built up quite the gallery since then, but I didn't think to show it to anyone else. It was my secret. Well, not so secret considering I had nowhere else to hide it, but my family hadn't really asked what I did inside it. Trunks was different though, as he generally took more notice of me since that incident. I flicked through the pages and showed him each drawing I made. I don't remember a whole lot of it aside from what I sketched of the sorts of rocks and trees I passed by. None of it was particularly good, even for a Pokémon, and it probably would've had more worth being used as toilet paper, but they were my own trashy drawings to claim and no one else’s. I created them, so that’s what gave them its power.  
  
Seeing this, Trunks patted me on the back and told me they were all good. Now, lil' me couldn't really tell the difference between a master's painting and a messy clash of colours, but I knew from his aura he was being genuine. Then, what he suggested next took me off guard.  
  
"Do you think you could draw me?"  
  
And so the stage was set. Me and Trunks went to our usual hangout spot by the lake, and he sat down in a cross-legged pose by the bank while I sat away from him, crayon in paw. His ability to sit still for hours on end made him the perfect subject. I looked at him and paused. There was going to be a little bit of trouble getting him on a flat surface. Maps were easier to draw as it was abstract, but since I had to draw a living, breathing thing, I had the same problem as I did before translating it onto paper.  
  
Out of impulse, I held the crayon in front of him, measuring him with the wax stick, and marked two spots on the paper where I started with the ears and end with his bottom. I squinted my eyes, trying to make sense of his form, and drew three circles on the paper: one for the head, one for the body, and one for the bottom. Then I drew a few lines connecting each of them together. When I put it like that, it sounded like I knew what I was doing, but trust me, I didn’t.  
  
You know when you start out, you draw what you think you see instead of what you actually see? It’s kind of like that. I don’t remember who said that, but anyway, the limbs looked broken, and Trunks ended up looked like he was missing a few chromosomes. I compared my drawing to the actual thing in front of me and frowned.  
  
“Are you done?” he said. I nodded, and he came over to peek at my disasterpiece.  
  
“That doesn’t look half bad.”  
  
“Really?” I said, pointing to all my mistakes. “I made you look kinda goofy.”  
  
“Well, er...” He nervously smiled. I could tell he wanted to avoid criticising my work.  
  
“I know it looks pretty bad, bro, you don’t hafta lie to me.”  
  
He gave a relieved sigh and patted me on the back.  
  
“Okay, you’re right, it could use some work, but it’s better than anything I could’ve done. I could barely draw a stick figure.”  
  
I cocked my head, trying to figure out what he was talking about, but shrugged it off.  
  
“If you keep at it,” he said, “I’m sure you can make something good.”  
  
“You think so?”  
  
“It all comes with practice. Think of it like training your aura, when you eventually get to that stage.” Trunks stood on the balls of his feet and made a battle stance. “You exercise your body like you’d exercise your mind when drawing, and when it comes to using it, you channel the world’s energy inside you like the references you’ve collected, like so.” He clapped his paws together and closed his eyes, casting a blue glow onto the ground. “Then, once you feel like you’ve gathered enough energy, or enough of an understanding of what you’re looking at...”  
  
At last, he presented an aura sphere and shot it at the tree, creating a blast that sent the leaves flying like knives in the air.  
  
“Of course, mine was only the size of a pebble when I started out, just like yours, so like I said, it all comes with practice. You understand?”  
  
I set the pad to the side and nodded. Actually, a lot of it flew over my head, as I couldn’t understand what he was trying to relate to. The fundamentals of art are much different than shooting magic spheres out of your hands like some sort of wizard. But I felt the sentiment anyway, so I went close to him and hugged his leg.  
  
You could say Trunks inspired me since after that, I went on my own to draw again, just doing random scribbles that didn’t mean anything, but nonetheless felt important. When you have nothing else, you tend to use it as an escape, after all. My memories drifted off to the speech Trunks gave me, to the time Mom gave me that pad in the first place on the night I pilfered that wine off those humans. It had been a while since I saw one of them, so I got the idea to draw one completely by memory.  
  
I remembered they had tiny heads, and clothes, and hair, and all sorts of stuff, but without a visual reference, in the end, they looked more like the aliens Mom talked about in her poem than anything resembling an actual human. I was completely on my own until Dad appeared from behind the trees, and when I saw that hardened, permanently-frowning face, I closed the pad.  
  
“Hello pup,” he said as he approached. “What are you up to this time?”  
  
With anyone else, I probably would’ve shown them without hesitation as they would’ve been respectful about it. With Dad however, it always felt like he invaded your privacy, like he was actively seeking out a reason to scold you.  
  
“Nothin’.”  
  
His face turned more sour. “You must never lie to a Lucario. Now show me what you’ve been doing.”  
  
He played that card whenever we hid something from him. I’d find out later that it’s a common saying in the mainland, and a rule even you humans should follow if you don’t want a spike shoved up your rear end. Nevertheless, I clutched the pad, not wanting him to look, but at that point, Dad growled with fury, grabbing me with those meaty paws of his while I struggled in his grasp.  
  
“Let me go!”  
  
“I’m having none of that, thank you.” At last, he snatched the pad off me and flicked through it, page by page. He said nothing, ignoring my attempts to snatch it back, then his eyes dilated at one of my drawings. He turned the pad over, presenting that botched drawing.  
  
“Pup, what is this?”  
  
“Um...” I stared at the page, figuring out what to say next. “It’s a human. It doesn’t look anythin’ like it, I kinda messed up the body. I—“  
  
RRR-IP! My heart stopped when Dad tore the page out the pad, crumpled it up in his paws, and casually tossed it away behind him.  
  
“No more drawing from now on. I’m taking this damn thing away, understood?”  
  
At that moment, I pounced on him, shouting at him to give it back. He picked me up, and out of nowhere, just tossed me to the ground, head first. I crawled away from him like the kicked Riolu I was. It was probably because of the shock of being thrown to the floor, but I bawled. He approached me with that murderous look in his eyes again. Clearly, I had already ticked him off and there was no way out, so I ran to the shore, wailing into the air.  
  
So yeah, that went well. Wah-wah. Looking back on it, the whole thing was stupid from both sides. He never needed to go that far with confiscating my stuff, though I didn’t need to react the way I did either, as there were worse things I could’ve cried over than a crumpled up drawing, like nearly losing a loved one to an infected leg, for instance. Again, I wasn’t a smart kid, and kids are generally stupid and emotional, but as a word of advice, if you ever plan on having them, that’s something you shouldn’t do to a kid, punish them when they haven’t done anything wrong because of your own personal issues, or chuck them around like a football.  
  
Look at me, giving parental advice. Is this what I’ve come to these days?  
  
But yeah, I ended up running to the shore, sulking in my own self-pity. Dad snatched away the one thing I took pride in doing, so I had nothing to express myself with, no map to find my way out of the island, nothing. I looked to the shore where another island sat further away. Even through my misty eyes, I identified that island was the one I marked as the closest on the map, or maybe the second closest, but I didn’t care, so I stood up anyway.  
  
With nowhere else to run to, it was sink or swim.  
  
It probably wouldn't have been the last time I saw them. If I could’ve made it across there, I probably could've gotten back, after all. Still, I put a paw on my chest, feeling each beat and waiting for the right time to leave. Once it slowed down, with calmed nerves, I took the first dive.  
  
Although I was only told to swim a certain distance, I knew I could’ve endured it for a long time without stopping. I mean, what could I say? I was a bored kid. If circumstances were different and I didn't have this damn arm dragging me down, I'm sure I could swim even longer now.  
  
I kept a steady pace, going slow enough to keep my breathing in check while fast enough to see some progress. Eventually, the far away islands came into view, and I even saw a few Pokémon travelling through the sea. I knew I wasn't completely isolated then as many other Pokémon were travelling the same way I was. I was getting closer and closer to the other island in front of me, I felt it.  
  
Something nipped my paws. I didn't stop to check out what it was as it felt like a little nibble at first, then it almost pulled me underwater. I stopped, kicking whatever clutched onto my leg off my feet and continued my venture forward. Then it dragged me into the sea.  
  
Around my feet, through the eye-burning salt water, a school of Magikarp swarmed around my legs, sucking my skin and swishing their tails in the water to pull me further downward. I couldn't even hold my breath; it took me that much by surprise. I needed to get back to the surface. I punched at them in an attempt to ward them away, and it succeeded as I socked one Magikarp in the face and a few dispersed, although some still stuck onto my legs. That gave me leeway enough to rise above, and I gasped for air. I knew at that point I was screwed. In my panic, I screamed for help, splashing out to make a scene while I could still swim. I didn't know how it would help as I couldn't see anyone or anything around me that could come to my rescue.  
  
Then even more mouths pulled me downwards, and the only thing I could've done to save a bit of time was hold my breath. What dragged me down was less like a school and more like a university, if that's even an expression you humans use. I struggled to move as they dragged me deeper underwater. I couldn't hold my breath for much longer. I saw a huge shadow from far away, but couldn’t make out what it was. Slowly, I opened my mouth, and eventually my thoughts drifted away as I slept with the fishes.  
  
You know, I managed to get my paws on a trivia book in GeL once I learned how to read. Apparently, it takes a minute and a half for a small Pokémon, particularly a Riolu like me to drown. Even if you survive by some miracle, you're lucky if brain damage doesn't set in around that time. When I look back at all the close calls I've had in my life, sometimes, I think about that random fact and that feeling still hasn't left me whenever I remember the time I almost drowned there. With no one around to help in the middle of nowhere, I was sure I was dead. Maybe I did die and I could've been a ghost this whole time. Plot twist.  
  
Oh, that joke didn’t land? Alright then, I'll continue.  
  
Next thing I knew, I wasn't entirely awake, but something clamped down at my chest and bitter water rose from my throat. It kept punching at that area, although I couldn't piece together why until I coughed up a stream of water. Suddenly, I could breathe again. The fresh air tasted much sweeter after almost losing it forever. It took a while for me to find my bearings as I caught my breath, but once I came to, I opened my eyes and saw two figures in front of me. It was an Azumarill, although I didn't know it yet, and a human. The Azumarill came up to me first and held my paw.  
  
"Are you alright?" he said.  
  
I wasn't too sure about what just happened, although I could speak.  
  
“Yeah, thanks.”  
  
He just nodded and repeated what I said in the human tongue. Okay, that was odd to say at the least. I let the situation play itself until I understood where I was, and in that time, the human talked back to him, although I could only understand a few sounds, and the Azumarill nodded.  
  
"He says you're breathing fine anyway. Do you need a paw?"  
  
"Please," I said. He helped me up to my feet and I got a better understanding of my surroundings. We were on some sort of metal contraption, which I now know as a boat, sitting between two islands. The next thing I noticed was that my teeth were chattering. A gust of wind blew through me and I cuddled myself in an attempt to feel warm. In response, the Azumarill gathered a few towels for me to wrap myself in, which helped a little, although I was still dripping wet.  
  
 _"Do you have any cocoa for her?"_ he said in human tongue, to which, his partner nodded.  
  
"Cocoa?" I said, confused.  
  
"Yeah, it's a hot drink. It'll help you keep warm. You'll see."  
  
I nodded and watched the human prepare something from some sort of flask, while the Azumarill wrapped his paw around me for comfort.  
  
"Are you lost?" I shook my head and pointed back to home.  
  
"That's where I live, over there." Then it dawned on me. "Aw, crud. They're probably thinking I drowned or somethin’."  
  
"Don’t fret, we'll get you back safely. I did wonder what a Riolu was doing in the middle of the ocean." He chuckled and relayed the information back to his trainer. That's when I prodded him in his side, getting his attention back.  
  
"How are you doing all of this? Mama said it's usually the trainers that order their Pokémon to do stuff, not the other way around."  
  
He just smiled and flicked one of his ears back.  
  
"I've been learning to speak the human tongue for years."  
  
"Can you really do that though? I know Papa could speak a few words, but I didn't know you could speak that well through it."  
  
"Why of course. It's a skill you can learn like any other."  
  
"Then how come I can't understand half of what he says?"  
  
"It's a little complicated, but it takes some getting used to if you haven't lived around them."  
  
I just mumbled in reply. He looked to the far-away island.  
  
"It looks like a nice place."  
  
"Well, kinda. It's pretty boring, to be honest. That's kinda why I swam away, ya know, to see if I could get to the mainland. Plus Papa was kind of a jerk."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"Well, he crumpled up my drawing just because it had a human on it."  
  
"You draw?"  
  
"Yeah. I suck at it though."  
  
"Well, no one starts off like a Smeargle."  
  
I didn't know what that meant, although I gathered it was a compliment, so I nodded. It wasn't long after that the human knelt in front of me and offered me a cup of that cocoa. It was weird for me to look at as it wasn't like anything I had seen before: brown with a bit of white at the top, but I guessed it was safe to drink. It was warm like sunshine in a bottle.  
  
"Hot,” the human said, loud and plainly. Knowing dumb lil' me, I probably would've chugged it if he hadn't told me in such a clear tone, so I carefully held it to my lips, trying not to drop it as I took a sip. It was unlike anything I tasted before: smooth and sweet. Warmth coursed through my body and I felt up to speed again.  
  
"Thanks a bunch," I said.  
  
"You like it?" The Azumarill said.  
  
"Do I ever!"  
  
From there, he asked me a bit more about my predicament and I talked about wanting to escape the island and find out what the humans were up to, in between sips of that cocoa, of course. Again, Azumarill went back and forth with his trainer, before he said this:  
  
"We're actually looking for Pokémon like you. We want to help you learn about these things, like human speech, everything you'd like to know about the world, the whole hog. All you'd need to do is come with us."  
  
"I..." I itched to say yes. It was my chance to venture the world like I had planned for months, to hang around the humans and see what my brother had seen, but then it struck me. If I took that offer right then and there, then what? It seemed too easy, as if the two had appeared out of thin air to take me out on a silver carriage, or boat as it were. Plus, there was still my family. My father could've gotten stuffed if he didn't agree with me, but what would the rest say? Would it mean not seeing them again? I gulped the last of the drink down, which had turned lukewarm. Azumarill must've seen the hesitation in my face as he frowned.  
  
"I understand, it's a hefty deal to take on. Well, think on it if you want. We can come back tomorrow to talk about it more."  
  
"Hold on, how will you know where I am when every island looks the same?"  
  
"We have our ways. Now," he turned back to his trainer, repeating what I said. "Let's take you home."  
  
The human took control of the wheel and the engine whirred, making me drop my empty cup.  
  
"No need to fret," Azumarill said, "That's just what powers this boat you're standing on."  
  
I nodded, feeling myself flush red.  
  
"Oh!" he exclaimed, "How rude of me! Ahem." He stood in the middle, ears proudly sticking up in the air. "I'm an Azumarill, but you may call me Azzy, and here's my partner, Mack!"  
  
Mack, the human, just waved his hand as he steered the boat. Again, names were an odd thing for us Pokémon, and hearing the Azumarill repeat his own name got me thinking about what I would call myself. Nothing came to mind. I couldn't think of anything that would fit me as I was just Riolu. That was what I always was.


	13. The Reason We're Here, I Guess.

My family waited with bated breath for me to arrive on the shore. My father acted aggressive at first towards the pair on the boat, but when Azzy explained himself, he only nodded and thanked them before telling them to leave. I waved back at them as they set sail, and once everyone was done giving affectionate hugs and kisses, thanking the White God I was safe, Dad grounded me from the shore.  
  
Of course, that didn’t stop me I had plans later on. You could never keep me in one place for too long after all. Thoughts of the duo stayed with me all day, and over a quiet dinner, I thought about nothing but escaping.  
  
I had a definite chance that time. I was given the opportunity to eat something else other than fish all day, everyday, to do something else other than lounge about all day, everyday, and possibly meet new people rather than being stuck with my family, all day, everyday. Even without that, the chance to learn the human tongue enticed me. I thought back to my previous encounters and how nice it would've been to speak for myself. Maybe things could've been different with that Prinplup encounter had I explained myself to their trainer and mediated between them and Dad. Maybe I could've understood why that crazy couple was so scared of me. All of that sold me on paper.  
  
In actuality, though, a weight clamped down on my chest. And no, it wasn't due to almost drowning, but the prospect of never seeing my family again if it meant going away. I didn't have anything against the rest of my siblings or even Dad, but I could've done without them. Trunks and Mom, though, were the only ones that showed me proper support. If I didn't have them around, I wouldn't know who else to turn to.  
  
I carried those thoughts with me even past dinner and throughout storytime, and as I tried to go to sleep, I tossed and turned in my patch of grass.  
  
Trunks took the hint something was up since he patted my side, waking me up out of my half-sleep.  
  
"Do you want to talk about this in our usual spot?"  
  
The lake it was. At that time, everything was pitch black. We tiptoed through the forestry, listening for the different sounds in the terrain to guide us there, and I guess I must've taken one step forward too many as Trunks held me back from falling in the drink. We sat by the bank as I coursed my paw through the surface of the darkened water.  
  
"You're thinking about escaping with the couple that brought you back," Trunks said.  
  
"Nothing gets past you.”  
  
"You're set to meet them again tomorrow, is that it?"  
  
"Yeah, and?"  
  
"And, I want to come with you."  
  
"Off the island?"  
  
"No, just with them. I want to see what they have planned for you. Don't you think it sounds a little suspicious?"  
  
"Maybe. Well, they did save me, after all."  
  
"True. But, let's say you did get off the island with them and they kept their promise about teaching you whatever it is that needed teaching. You might not have the chance to see us again."  
  
"I know. I dunno what'll happen a while from now. They didn't really say what this whole thing was about."  
  
"Well, like I said, we'll find out tomorrow. Maybe we should rest on it for now, okay? I won’t tell Dad."  
  
He put his paw around me and I returned the favour, nuzzling his coat.  
  
"Thanks, bro."  
  
I was able to sleep easily that night, but awoke to the rain the next day. Everyone except for Dad huddled under a tarp roof; another human invention we mostly took for granted. As the air was considerably chillier, the two youngest clutched Mom for warmth, while Trunks stayed by my side, making sure I was comfortable.  
  
“Mom,” Trunks asked, “Did you get that thing back?”  
  
“Oh yeah, hold on a sec.” She reached into her curiosity box, and to my surprise, handed me back the sketchpad.  
  
“But how?” I said. “Didn’t Papa take it away?”  
  
“Never mind L--, I mean, your father,” she said. Before I had the chance to ask why she hesitated, she continued. “I’m not having any of his attitude. If he does something like that again, just know you have me and your brother’s back, got that?”  
  
My worries from yesterday lifted, and I went over to hug her, fighting for space alongside those two shivering urchins.  
  
“Where is he anyway?” Trunks said. “I can’t imagine he’d be comfortable out in the rain like this.”  
  
“Oh, who knows? He’s probably off brooding in a ditch somewhere. Just let him be, I’d rather not deal with him when he’s like this.”  
  
“So you were arguing again.” There was sadness in Trunks’ tone.  
  
“Sorry. I know it’s hard on you, but please, hold on a little while longer. I don’t want things to end badly between me and him.”  
  
Trunks stayed silent. I didn’t really understand the turmoil surrounding Mom and Dad at that time, but with the strong presence of the aura floating around, I couldn’t help but feel saddened as well. That changed when Trunks patted my back, taking me by surprise. He held out some sort of contraption, presumably from that box, and stood up.  
  
“Mom, we’re going to the shore. I know she’s grounded, but there’s business to take care of.”  
  
She winked at the both of us, and from that, I understood she kept her word when she had my back. We weaved through the forest, where the storm pitter-pattered against the treetops, providing us with shelter at first. Once we were out in the open, we would’ve been pelted by the rain if Trunks hadn’t opened that contraption, which expanded to create a barrier from the rain, like the tarp in the base. Of course, it was an umbrella, but I didn’t know that yet. We both sat on the rocks, Trunks holding the umbrella while I doodled the time away. He’d make the occasional grunt of approval here and there at my work, but for the most part, we just soaked in the silence.  
  
The waves crashed against my paws, shocking me with its sudden iciness. Trunks took my hand and moved me back a few paces. In front of us, the ocean seemed to wobble like jelly, making all sorts of tiny movements until a huge head emerged from the surface. Blue, with a crown-like appendage sticking out of its forehead, and with its body snaking out behind it as large white fins on its back popped out as well. Dozens of Magikarp popped out of the water too, staring daggers at us, if fish daggers were a thing. Images of the drowning incident flashed in my head, and my mind raced to all sorts of conclusions.  
  
The Magikarp had probably summoned their pack leader, or whatever, and after their failed attempt to get their own back at me for eating their kind, they probably wanted revenge. With this huge, screw-off monster by their side, we wouldn’t have been any match for them. We were doomed. And so, we were all gobbled up in turn, falling into a watery grave.  
  
Just kidding. Instead, the monster’s red eyes widened, and smiled through its large mouth.  
  
“Ah, how are you, my boy? I haven’t seen you since you were a Riolu!” he said. In response, Trunks bowed to him, and oddly enough, pinched my side in an effort for me to do the same.  
  
“I’m doing fine, Cecrops.”  
  
“Cecrops? What crops? W-what’s going on?”  
  
“And you, girl.” He poked his head closer to the shore. I would’ve bolted if Trunks hadn’t held me back. “I believe you were still an egg when I last visited. My, you’ve certainly grown. You’re almost the spitting image of your mother, except for both your green eyes!”  
  
“W-wait!” I turned to Trunks, wanting answers right away. “H-he knows us?”  
  
“Oh.” Trunks held both of my shoulders. “I should explain. Do you remember the story Mom told you about the sea serpent?”  
  
It didn’t hit me right away, but when I recited the poem in my head, I squealed in surprise.  
  
“He is a legend in some way, but that’s beside the point. Long ago, before you hatched, this Gyrados helped carry us over to this island. It was mostly Dad’s decision, but me and Mom wanted to get away from the mainland too, so we hopped on his back, he led us here, and left.” He glanced over to the giant head, which was still jarring to look at. “I thought I’d sensed a fishy aura here.”  
  
“Indeed, you did. I have been busy, visiting Alola with my students, but I thought I’d pay some of the other island residents a visit as well. All of them are living peacefully.”  
  
“Wait,” I said, “There’s more of us on those other islands?”  
  
“Indeed. Not just you Pokemon, but humans too. They really like their remote hideouts.”  
  
So I hadn’t been far away from them the whole time. If I’d known that before, I would’ve swam over there long ago, but then I took the Magikarp attack into account. I stared at each of his supposed students, who watched us expectantly, and suddenly, my stomach twisted into knots. If they were the same Magikarp we’d feasted on the whole time, then they were probably responsible for swarming over me as well. I fell to my knees, doubling over in guilt.  
  
“P-please don’t eat me.”  
  
“Oh, child,” Cecrops said, “Whatever are you talking about?”  
  
“I, no, we’ve been eating those Magikarp the whole time without a second thought! Isn’t that why you attacked me?”  
  
His Magikarp school gave each other weird looks.  
  
“Oh, no, don’t be silly. They weren’t responsible for it. I can assure you, none of my students have ever been close to any of the islands without my say-so. They know the risks if they stray too far. They all have developing minds of their own, even if they can only vocalise underwater.”  
  
“But what about the rest?”  
  
“I can explain.” The Gyrados frowned. “There are fish farms owned by humans all over Sinnoh, which are enclosed spaces for the purpose of growing and harvesting livestock. Magikarp are considered one of them. They’re bred in the farms for the purpose of being cooked one day, and being engineered at birth, they’re nothing more than mindless beasts, incapable of thought, just like the livestock bred on the mainland as well. Those that escape swim the seas with no purpose, and don’t listen to my warnings. The ones from there were probably the ones who saw you as a threat and attacked you.”  
  
“Fish. Farms.” His explanation probably made me more nauseous. My throat tensed, and bro was there to make sure I didn’t heave or anything. It was a lot to take in at once. I couldn’t grasp the scale of those supposed fish farms, or the concept of breeding Pokemon specifically to be eaten. I didn’t want to know any more.  
  
“Stop, please,” Trunks said. “Sis wouldn’t know a lot about that yet, she’s barely aware of the human world.”  
  
“Alright, I apologise. Child, I hope you can forgive us for what happened. I would’ve saved you anyway if that Azumarill hadn’t cast that bubble first. If you had drowned, and one of my pupils were responsible, I would be ashamed.”  
  
After calming myself down, I looked at Cecrops once more, and nodded.  
  
“It wasn’t your fault. I wanna apologise for eatin’ those Magikarp, too. It can’t be nice, knowing what people are doin’ to them.”  
  
He gave a hollow chuckle. “I’ve accepted that fact long ago. It’s just the cycle of life, or the great chain of being, if you believe in the White God’s rule. But maybe, that’s a bit too much for you to grasp.” He lowered his forehead to the shore, gesturing me to touch it. I ran my paw through the scales, which were rough, but smooth at the same time, and even in the rain, they glowed like crystals. “You are a kind soul, however. That will get you very far in the right places, even in wild territories. If there’s anything you’d like to ask, child, I will answer.”  
  
I opened my mouth to speak, but suddenly, Cecrops backed away, and his pupils disappeared underwater.  
  
“We appear to have more visitors. Well, I will be around Sinnoh, so I will catch up with you again later, Lucario. I wish the best for both you children, and the rest of the family.”  
  
We waved him goodbye and he disappeared into the water along with his students, leaving us two, the pattering rain on the sea, and the boat from before heading towards us. Somehow, the prospect of two complete strangers visiting our island was even less of a surprise than this huge sea serpent popping up out of nowhere. That blue rabbit was the first to step off the boat as he approached us.  
  
"Well!” he said, “Imagine seeing that Gyrados again, but hello there! You hungry?"  
  
I wasn't really. My stomach still felt wobbly from that revelation, but since they brought that cocoa last, and it was cold, I was up for anything on offer, so I nodded. He turned to Trunks next.  
  
"And you must be her father?"  
  
"Brother," he said, crossing his arms.  
  
"Ah, sorry. Are you coming with us then?"  
  
"Yes, but let me just say this. If you and that human are up to anything that might harm the both of us, or are up to no good, I'll show no mercy. I'll know in an instant."  
  
"If we were up to anything like that, you would’ve known by now, I can assure you. But anyway hop on board!"  
  
He led the way to the deck as we stepped off the shore, guiding us to the inner part of the boat, which was protected by the rain, and we gathered around a table where a basket lay with that familiar cocoa flask. My mouth watered already.  
  
"Are you taking us away from here?" Trunks asked, leering at Azzy.  
  
"There’s not much reason to. We only just came here to talk.”  
  
“Then tell that human to power the boat and find a spot in the middle of the sea. There’s someone on the island that might interrupt us if we’re not careful. Can you do that?”  
  
Azzy nodded and went to the upper deck where Mack commanded over the boat. While he was gone, I steadied myself on the seat, trying not to feel dizzy with how the room rocked back and forth, even more so when it powered up, taking us away from the island. Once I calmed my nerves, I kept staring at the middle of the table. There was clearly food in there with a distinct scent different from the Magikarp, but it hadn’t been opened yet. I almost reached my paw out to reveal its contents when Trunks tapped my wrist. I resisted long enough for the blue rabbit to return, joining us on the table.  
  
“Now.” He opened the basket to reveal lots of different kinds of foodstuffs. Well, maybe not lots, but lots considering what I usually ate before then. There were sandwiches, rice cakes, different types of berries, Pokepuffs, poffins, wrapped candy, you name it. Maybe more. You could've probably fed a Snorlax with that much food. I drooled, being that starved for variety.  
  
"Would you like to dig in?"  
  
"Woah," I said, pointing at every item on display, "Is this all for us?"  
  
"But of course, there's plenty to go around."  
  
It didn't take long for me to stuff my face with sandwiches. They tasted different to the ones I had before, except it was a bit meatier, but still, I enjoyed it, and waved a bit of bread to Trunks.  
  
"Haff some, ith goof."  
  
"I'll pass," he replied, waving a paw dismissively. I shrugged and continued on my sandwich binge, and Azzy helped himself to a riceball.  
  
"I take it you like those then?" he said.  
  
"Love 'em. Much better than the stinking fish we usually have."  
  
"Oh please," Trunks said, "They’re hardly stinking at all." He put up that tough act, sure, but in truth, he hungrily stared down the feast before us. I knew from his aura he longed for it, but was just waiting for the right moment to join in.  
  
"Whatever," I said, wolfing down another sandwich.  
  
“Ahem,” Azzy said. “Is there anything you'd like, mister Lucario? We have chocolate."  
  
Snap. Like a fire lit up in his head, Trunks threw away his glum self and licked his lips.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Right here." Azzy retrieved a bar and gave it to Trunks. The instant he got his paws on it, he tore through the wrapper and bit off a huge chunk for himself. He looked the happiest since I got him drunk off his ass earlier on. Naturally, I asked for some too. He shook himself out of his choco-coma and broke off a piece for me to try. Need I say more about what I thought of it?  
  
Oh, and if you’re wondering, a way to a Lucario's heart is through chocolate. It works for both men and us ladies.  
  
 **(Sorry to interrupt so out of the blue like this, but that’s a myth. The chocolate is only made to be addictive to your kind in particular because of that whole product placement with Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. Since its appearance in that film, they made a new recipe to appeal to the Lucario crowd with their trainers, then their sales tripled and now that brand owns the monopoly on chocolate manufacturing worldwide. Nothing sells chocolate faster than a dead Lucario, I suppose. Sorry, I get so riled up whenever I think about that.)**  
  
Um, okay. You could’ve just let me have this, Shine, but I guess that’s another perfectly innocent thing ruined for me. Well anyway.  
  
The boat must've stopped since Mackenzie sat down with us, no longer at the helm. He got himself a sandwich and told Azzy something, although I couldn't hear what, and Trunks kept his guard, albeit with chocolate melting in his paw.  
  
"So, mister Lucario," Azzy said, "We’re a part of an organisation called Gestalt Learning, and we'd like to offer this Riolu here a special opportunity if you would allow it."  
  
"Depends," Trunks said.  
  
"We would like her to come with us, to a place where she can learn the same things humans get to learn and more. Not only will she get to learn the human tongue, she will also learn many other things about this world and be prepared for whatever trials come her way once she graduates."  
  
"Meaning?"  
  
Azzy looked down at the notebook I put beside me.  
  
"She could learn to draw, for instance, and have her work put out for all to see."  
  
Trunks shook his head. "As much as I’d like her to improve her craft, I'm not letting her come with you just for that, not on Dad’s life."  
  
I stood up and held a paw up to him.  
  
"Hey," I said, "Don't I get a say in this?"  
  
"Not if that's all there is, it's a waste of time."  
  
"Not only that," Azzy continued, "But she would also be skilled at battle and given the ability to defend herself from anything when she leaves. Or if she ever wants to come with a trainer after she's finished."  
  
"No.” He gave them the familiar red-eyed stare. "Out of the question. We didn't get away from those bastards just so we could have one take her."  
  
"Understandable. That's just one of our goals, but there are many other paths she could choose from. She would not only learn the human tongue, she would also learn maths, know about the history of this world, and much more. This means she could go on to teach other Pokémon like us the same set of skills. She could even live in the city by herself if she wanted to."  
  
Trunks just laughed. It was always worrying when someone as straight-laced as him broke that image.  
  
"Don't be ridiculous. You think every Pokémon could just waltz into the city and live like every other human, in some cushy house with a boring job? Tell me, I'd love to hear an example, I'm all ears."  
  
"Of course," Azzy said with a smile. "There's an Infernape named Emma who teaches at one of the top trainer schools in Jubilife City, and she’s able to live by herself. The teacher's union managed to approve her move-in with the help of her former trainer, and she's able to rent an apartment with her pay."  
  
I didn't really know what they were talking about so I tuned out and looked to my brother, whose mouth went agape. He held a paw to his face, deep in thought.  
  
"That sounds too good to be true. Surely that can't be the case, not while many other Pokémon are either in the wild or stuck with their trainers."  
  
Azzy frowned. "Sadly, that is still a problem. But her case is one out of hundreds around the world. The news tells us what we need to know about these kinds of Pokémon, and that only shows it can be done on a wider scale if we put the effort in." Azzy stood up, ears proudly twitching in the air. "Think of what we could do if we were all given this chance. Wouldn't you want her to have the same opportunity?"  
  
Trunks looked over to me, then stared at his feet.  
  
"Of course. But what does this mean for her? Where would she even go?"  
  
"She would stay with us in a building made for her and other Pokémon her age to thrive. She would live peacefully among them while she studies, and be given whatever help she needs to progress. She would have tutors like me to give her advice and to bridge the gap between her and the humans. We would be with her every step of the way."  
  
"For how long? Would we ever see her again?"  
  
"Possibly. Keep in mind this is meant to be secret, something we can't tell a lot of humans. We can't give our location away, but we can track yours and give you updates on how she's doing, and this would go on for five years until she's ready to graduate."  
  
"That's, um, that's a long time."  
  
Trunks buried his head in his paws. I inched closer to him and embraced him, as I felt a whirlwind of emotions from his aura, all fighting for attention. Azzy came closer to him too and held his paw out.  
  
"I know this isn't easy for you, as her brother. But if you want to give this bright, young Pokémon the chance to succeed, I need your trust and confidence. What do you say?"  
  
He was silent for a moment. Being young and not in the loop on things, I couldn't add to much only observing what happened without my say. He clenched his fists again, this time tugging at his head, if only for a short moment. Eventually, Trunks snapped out of it and gazed back at the Azumarill.  
  
“There’s one more thing I need to know before I make up my mind. If we say no, what’s stopping you from taking her by force, or any other Pokémon that gets involved with you two?”  
  
“You’re right to be sceptical. If we wanted to kidnap our subjects, we would’ve done so by now, but doing that would go against our mission. If you say no, we’ll just take you back and move on. What’s the point of making Pokémon participate in a program like this if they’re not going to be happy being in it in the first place?”  
  
Trunks laid back and hummed to himself.  
  
"Alright, I trust you, but I need my own family's trust as well. When can you come back?"  
  
"How about this night, at the same spot when it approaches sundown?"  
  
Trunks gave a rare smile and returned Azzy's long awaited paw-shake.  
  
"That sounds great."  
  
The boat purred again and we were on our way back to the island, eating as we pleased as well as downing the leftovers with cocoa. Nothing better on a rainy day, if you ask me. Me and Trunks didn't talk much about what happened, just staring homeward as we slowly approached it, but I knew a lot went through my head at the time even if I didn't understand half of what Azzy talked about. All of it sounded far out of reach, as nothing I knew like that even existed. From my brother's reaction, I guess it scored well with him so I didn't worry about it too much. I just looked forward to flying away from the nest.  
  
We stopped at the shore and waved to the duo as they left for the second time. It was just us alone again. I reached up to Trunk's back, trying to get his attention, he picked me up with those big paws of his and put me on his shoulders, carrying me as we went back into the forest. It had been a while since anybody had carried me; not even Dad bothered. It was nice, though. That's what I kind of miss about being small, so someone else could give me rides like that, but oh well. Can’t linger on my childhood forever, you know.  
  
We crossed a stream together, getting his paws wet, and walked through the familiar area of endless woodland with the rain pelting the treetops. Although I longed for my brother’s approval, I still didn’t know what his thoughts on it were, exactly.  
  
“Bro,” I said, “What do you think I should do?”  
  
He sighed, but didn’t reply. I decided to read his aura up close, and detected a mixture of emotions in the air. Excitement. Fear. Longing. Those made sense if it turned out I would be going. But then I read jealousy and sadness. That was something I hadn’t anticipated, so I nudged his back.  
  
“What?” he snapped.  
  
I didn’t quite know how to phrase it, so I let my gut do the talking. “Are you mad at me?”  
  
His paws quickened their pace, crunching the twigs underneath. “Let’s not talk about this now, shall we?”  
  
“No, please. You don’t hafta hide it from me. I can read thoughts to, ya know. What’s that Dad said, never lie to a Lucario, or, erm, maybe a Riolu?”  
  
He stopped suddenly to let me down. Then, he knelt down to face me, his red eyes moist, and I froze in place.  
  
“No, I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry if I made you feel that.”  
  
“Then what’s wrong?”  
  
“You know when I got drunk?” A chuckle escaped his lips.  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“It’s still a little hazy to me, but I think I talked about going to the city. Dad wouldn’t come with us, but me and Mom went there all the time wherever we travelled. The humans were accepting of us, agreeing to tour some of us around, and whatnot. We also got to look at some of the schools there, which is like a place where humans get to learn about the world. We’d see the students walk sometimes and listen to them chatting together, or having cocoa while discussing the work there. Lots of interesting topics, like that Azumarill mentioned. It all sounded so important.”  
  
His cheerful expression dropped.  
  
“I would’ve loved to have experienced that. There was nothing like that out there for us dumb Pokémon to learn anything, yet they came here of all places, handing it over to you like it’s nothing.”  
  
“Can’t you ask to come with them?”  
  
“They only spoke about you!” Tears ran down his face. “They obviously picked you for a reason! Besides, I can’t come, I have to look after everyone else, I have to be the bigger, mature Pokémon here since Dad doesn’t pull his weight, I...”  
  
He closed his eyes and took a series of deep breaths.  
  
“Sorry, I shouldn’t be showing weakness. What would Dad say if he saw me like this?”  
  
“Forget Papa!” I placed a paw on his spike, or rather, his heart. “You’re not weak, you take care of me and everyone else too! Why aren’t you proud of that?”  
  
“I don’t know,” he said, holding his chest as well before standing up. "Let’s put this behind us. We'll talk to Mom about this first, alright?"  
  
I nodded and got onto his back again.  
  
Eventually, we reached the main camp where Mom hung out with our younger brothers, still sheltered from the rain. When we stepped in, they all looked at us.  
  
"Welcome back," she said, "You were out long."  
  
"Mom," Trunks said, "I've got something important to tell you, without those two if you don't mind."  
  
"Aw, c’mon bro," Stumpy said, looking like the kicked Riolu he was. "Why am I being left out?"  
  
"It's not because of you dear." Mom brushed the last bit of Stumpy's coat and patted him on the back. "I can tell he has something worth talking to me about. Run along now, you two, and take your brother’s umbrella. It will shield you two from the weather."  
  
"No fair." Stumpy stood up and reluctantly dragged Twig away by his paw, snatching the umbrella off Trunk’s paw. Mom went up to us and smiled.  
  
"Glad to see you two getting along. So what do you want to talk about?"  
  
"It's about those two visitors from yesterday. They want her."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For some sort of program. It sounds like one of those schools, if you know what I mean."  
  
Mom quirked an eye at him. "Alright. Go on."  
  
He basically explained the talk we had with Azzy, which again, mostly went over my head. Given how Mom either said one thing or the other about human matters like this, I didn't know how she would react to it. My heart pounded in anticipation, hoping she would say yes. She didn't say anything at all at first, only nodding occasionally to Trunks' questions about this or that, but after he explained everything, she placed her paws on her hips.  
  
"Do you trust them, though? Keep in mind, you only just met them yesterday, right?"  
  
"I know that," Trunks said, "But I read both of their auras, and throughout the whole talk we had, none of them lied, so as far as I can see, they're the real deal."  
  
Mom lifted me off his shoulders and sat me down, staring at me with those multicoloured eyes of hers once more.  
  
"Dear, what do you want out of life? Do you want to stay here forever?"  
  
"I..." I felt like this was a trick question, like the sort parents usually do when they want to test your true self out. I knew in my heart though that wasn't what I wanted, so I shook my head in honesty.  
  
"Then, what do you want to do once you're there?"  
  
"Well," I rubbed my head, "I wanna do lots of things! I wanna see the world, I wanna not suck at drawing, I wanna be able to talk to these humans, at least. Dad could speak a little bit to them, can't he?"  
  
"Yes, that's right. And me as well."  
  
Another surprise. "Can you?"  
  
"Of course. You don't hang around these humans for a long time and not learn some of their language."  
  
"Can you show me?"  
  
She broke her gaze as she looked to the side, and cleared her throat.  
  
 _"H-hello, I-I am ah, ah, Lucario._ Well, I'm not as good as he is, but you see what I mean. So you want to learn all of that, right?"  
  
"Yeah, of course!"  
  
Mom took a deep breath and puffed it back out. I couldn't help but read her aura, and what do you know, she had a lot of different emotions going on there too. She was not only excited, but happy and fulfilled as well, with a hint of jealousy too, like Trunks did.  
  
“I know your brother is thinking the same thing,” she said, “But if I was your age, I would’ve taken that chance. Even though I was born and bred in the wild, I was still curious about those humans, and wanted to be a part of their world, as well, but I never could. Not on my own terms, anyway. I got on fine, but this sounds much better.”  
  
She chuckled, either out of joy or disbelief.  
  
"You know, this all sounds crazy to me. I don't really know why they would sink so much time into us Pokémon, but then again, it sounds crazy enough to work. So.” She turned to Trunks. "They're coming back tonight, right?"  
  
Trunks nodded. Mom opened her mouth to say something else, before...  
  
"YOU THREE!" Dad stormed in, shouting at us the same way he shouted at that trainer. Stumpy and Twig was by his side. He charged over to Trunks and shook him by the shoulders.  
  
"Pup! I trusted you to keep her safe from the shore and you went behind my back! What were you thinking?"  
  
Trunks looked down, trying to avoid eye contact with him. "Dad, I--"  
  
"Not another word out of you. And you!" He stormed over to Mom next, touching the tip of her muzzle. "You're encouraging this sort of behaviour from them? With those humans?"  
  
She stared him down, looking the most fierce I'd ever seen her before. Dad grunted, and finally turned to me, pinching one of my aura sensors.  
  
"Ow, Papa!"  
  
"Quiet! I'm grounding you, girl. You're to stay inside until you think about how silly you're behaving!"  
  
"What did I do?"  
  
He yanked on it and pulled me about, knocking me onto the floor and dragging me through the rain-soaked dirt. I didn't even understand what was going on, poor me, so I cried for help. Really, what else would I have done in that situation? They seemed to work, or at least, I hoped it was because of that, as he let me go. I looked back up, only to see he was knocked to the ground by Mom’s fist. I crawled away from them, still sniffling like the confused Riolu I was, and watched the two of them argue as he grovelled on the floor, nursing his nose.  
  
"LIAM!" Mom said, "Get back up and look at me, for God's sake!"  
  
That was what I meant by him being a different case. That was his true name, the name given to him by his trainer. Slowly, Liam pulled himself up and tried to grapple Mom as she resisted. There was that murderous look of his again.  
  
"How dare you call me that, I trusted you never to say that name again!"  
  
"It's a bit too late for that, look at what you’re doing to our girl!"  
  
He glanced at me briefly and I shielded my eyes from him. I shut myself in my own world as they continued their spat.  
  
"Those humans have her possessed! They want to take her away and you're defending them! You know how badly they treated me!"  
  
"Damn it, Liam, your trainer left you years ago! Move on and grow a pair, mon!"  
  
"Don't you talk to me like that, you never should've told her about them in the first place! All they've ever done is ruin everything they touch!"  
  
"Oh, that's rich coming from you. All the stuff you brought back from the mainland, those hunting methods, the tire swing, the notepad, the box, the tarp, oh, and what else, getting absolutely plastered! You would never have thought of that if it wasn't for them. But sure, keep moaning about those humans while you use everything of theirs."  
  
"That's not--"  
  
"Go on this really long tantrum all you like, but don't drag us down along with you. Your daughter has the chance to make something of herself out there. We all could've done something about it, and yet you thought this was the best for all of them, shutting them out from the world entirely?"  
  
"Don't act so high and mighty. You agreed to look out for this island with me in the first place. You wanted the same thing."  
  
"Yes, I did, and I was stupid. But after such a long time, you start to do some thinking, and now I'm thinking this was a horrible idea. I don’t want to bring down my kids forever, you know, it’s about time some of them left the nest.”  
  
There was silence again. I opened my eyes and saw the two of them had stopped fighting. They just looked at each other, panting aggressively as a sea of emotions floating in the air around them, so many that there wasn't any way I could've read into them with my limited powers. Dad, or rather, Liam, crossed his arms.  
  
"Still, my word is final, and if I say this is a bad idea, then you should all follow suit. None of you know what it's like to be close to them only to have it all ripped away from you. I was young once too, you know."  
  
"Enough, Liam. What happened was out of your control. You told me so yourself, he only had to let you go because he lost his license. He was pleading for you to stay with him while they released you back into the wild against your will. He wasn’t the enemy there, they were! Why can’t you just move on with your life and start enjoying it again?"  
  
"I'm not talking about it any more and that's that." He turned back to me, no longer looking as angry as he did before, but something about his face made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't see him the same way I used to.  
  
"Pup, you have no idea what you want. If you go out with them, no matter how kindly they treat you at first, they will make you regret it. Forget all of this happened and live the rest of your life in peace."  
  
"No, Liam.” I stood up and balled my paws into fists. "That's not fair."  
  
His eyes twitched.  
  
"Life isn't fair, pup. Lots of Pokémon I knew had dreams like yours, only to wind up dead. This will turn out no different then they did, believe me."  
  
"You don't understand! Bro was out there too, he knew what it was like just as much as you, and told me how much the world sucked as well, yet even he said this was okay! Why won’t you listen to us?  
  
"Because you're both young and inexperienced. Now enough of this silly arguing. Forget about them, come have dinner with us, and sleep, like we've always done."  
  
Looking back on it, I could understand where he was coming from as well. Once I had that same sort of experience, it sticks with you, you know. There were lots of Pokémon I could think of that ended up the same way as he did, all with broken dreams or worse, one way or another, but point is, they all had goals of their own only to be screwed over because of one bad egg. Or in Liam's case, as I’d learn later, one event gone awry that ended up with his trainer having to give him up, all because of another Pokémon of his that suddenly snapped in the middle of a gym fight and killed the opponent’s Pokémon.  
  
From what I heard later, his trainer was a nice guy with goals of his own too. He taught him a lot of what Liam brought back to the island, after all, and Liam happened to inherit his cooking skills, which he passed onto Mom. I wouldn’t have blamed Liam if he had some chip on his shoulder because of being separated and left to fend for himself.  
  
That still doesn't change the fact he acted like a huge asshole about it.  
  
Something about what he said just set me off. It was the way he said it, like I didn't know a piece of crap from a small rock. Like I said, I wasn't that smart, but I knew when he talked down to me, so I swiped at his face, hard enough to draw blood from his cheek.  
  
He nursed it. Another moment of silence. My heart leapt from my throat. I heard the swaying of the trees above us. The soft tapping of the rain. The gasps of both Mom and Trunks. I knew what was coming before it happened. He kicked me, sending me flying to a nearby tree, then, there was nothing.


	14. Not The Last Goodbyes, For The Most Part

Being a human, you probably wouldn't know what it feels like to be trapped inside a ball. I don't really know for sure either, but that's where I ended up when I got knocked out anyway, inside a Pokéball.  
  
Being unconscious and possibly concussed, my thoughts drifted in and out, playing back random scenes in my head, like that of Azzy and Liam. I can't really describe the feeling of it, but it's like you're there and you're not at the same time. Like you're floating in jelly, or something, At least floating in jelly sounds tasty. In there, it feels like nothing.  
  
Time passed, and it didn't pass at all. But when I next woke up, the sky was black and speckled white. I didn't stir right away as I was battered and bruised from the previous encounter, but when I next opened my eyes, I saw the blue and white polka dots of Azzy's coat, along with the rest of my family crowding around me, save for Liam. Mom gestured to the duo and Mack pulled out a bottle from a box of his, which he sprayed all over my body. It stung a little, but in little time, I felt my young self again, like I hadn't been kicked against a tree moments before. It's kind of funny how potions work like that, but I guess that's the magic of modern medicine.  
  
I slowly got to my feet, taking note of my surroundings. I was in the same spot I waited with Trunks before with the boat and felt a pang of excitement when I realised what was going on.  
  
"Where's Li-, I mean Dad?"  
  
"Don't you worry about him now, dear,” Mom said, “He trapped you inside a Pokéball, but I took care of it. Now.” She approached and grasped my shoulders, looking at me with that same caring aura. “This is your chance to go with them. No matter what you end up choosing, I won’t think any less of you, dear. You’ve grown quite a bit now, though. It’s time for you to start making your own decisions.”  
  
I glanced at the duo, who waited patiently beside us, then back to Mom.  
  
“What about you guys? Will you be fine without me? I’d be so far away.”  
  
“True,” she said, “But we’ll be able to keep in touch. They have amazing technology we can use, so you won’t be alone. We’ll be with you like they will.”  
  
I let out a sigh of relief and stood up. Now, my resolve felt stronger than ever.  
  
"Are you really leaving?" Stumpy said, looking misty eyed.  
  
"Yeah,” I said. “I've got stuff I need to do."  
  
And here came the waterworks, but a lot much louder this time. It didn't take long for the runt Twig to start too, as the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Usually, I would've turned them away, but since I wouldn't be seeing them for a while, I pulled both of them in for a hug.  
  
"C'mon, you goofballs," I said. "I'll be back someday."  
  
"I'll miss you though!" Stumpy said, "And, and, that sounds like a really long time to me! Who knows what I'll do without you?"  
  
"Too long! Too long!" Twig said.  
  
I patted both of their backs and pulled away from them, leaving the two to comfort each other. I looked to Trunks next and climbed up his legs, and when I got to his head, he grabbed me by my coat and pulled me in for a hug. Well, he almost crushed me, truth be told. Lucario have strong grips, after all.  
  
"I'll hear from you soon," he said. "Promise me you'll try your best over there."  
  
"I will, bro."  
  
Trunks pulled me away and gave me to Mom for her to cradle me in her arms. She touched the tip of my nose.  
  
"I'm so proud of you, dear." She leaned in for a kiss, only to whisper to me. "Once you get out, go to the top of Jubilife Tower for me." Before I questioned what she said, she pecked my cheek and lifted me back down to the floor, leaving me to board Azzy and Mack's boat. There was still something I wanted to patch up with Trunks though.  
  
“Wait!” I said to the duo on the boat, “Can I talk to bro quickly?”  
  
They nodded, and I ran away from the crowd, Trunks following behind me. He knelt down to my level.  
  
“Be quick or else Dad will come back.”  
  
“Yeah, I will. So aren’t you coming with us?”  
  
“Unfortunately, they said they would only be taking in one Pokémon from each area your age. But they said they would try to help me out in the future.”  
  
“Aw, sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be.” He smiled. “As long as you’re fine going out and make the most of your studies, that’s enough to make me happy.”  
  
“But what about Dad though?”  
  
Trunks blew a Razzberry; another rare thing for him to do. “Whatever, I’m done being his lackey. Just focus on yourself.” He put a paw on my shoulder. “There’s a future for you out there. Chase after it. Oh!” His eyes widened and he ran back to the group. At last, Trunks gave me back the drawing set from before, and gave me one final hug for good measure. He squeezed me extra tightly, and so did I, knowing we’d never be able to do so again for a very long time. I could tell he was holding back tears through his aura, but suppressed the urge to, and released me, letting me get back to the duo.  
  
Boarding the boat with them, I looked to my family one last time before waving goodbye.  
  
"I'll talk to you all soon, I swear it! I’ll make you proud!"  
  
Soon enough, they drove away from the island, and I continued waving back until my family faded into the background. Part of me wondered where Dad was in all of this, but since the spat I had earlier, I shrugged it off. Mack tapped my back and held out a Pokéball. I recognised it as the thing Dad trapped me in, and I took a step back, feeling sick again, but Azzy smiled and took my paw in his.  
  
"Don't worry, we'll keep you safe here. We'll release you when we get there."  
  
I eased up a little and let his human partner approach me, holding out the Pokeball like that trainer did before. Something inside me knew that would seal the deal between us, the part where I would finally agree to be taken to GeL. I tapped it and soon enough, I was sealed inside.


	15. Ambrette's Beach Bum

_"Right,"_ Curio said, holding a paw up, _"That's enough for now."_  
  
Tony complied and pressed the record button to stop. There was a moment of silence in the room as Curio stretched her arms, squirming in her seat.  
  
“Well that was quite long, wasn’t it?” She stuck her tongue out to Shine. “Hope I didn’t make you fall asleep or anything.”  
  
“No, not at all. I remember things more clearly now,” he said. “I recall you used to talk about them quite a bit.”  
  
“Good to hear.”  
  
Curio grabbed her bag and stood up, looking to Tony.  
  
 _"We'll carry on tomorrow, alright? For now, I'm gonna buzz off somewhere else."_  
  
"Wouldn't you like to stay the night with Shine, though? I can pull up a bed if you want."  
  
 _"No thanks, not in this shithole, and especially not with you."_  
  
Tony was about to respond when Curio made her way towards the door.  
  
"Hold on," Shine said, "Where will you stay?"  
  
"The beach, of course. I found the perfect spot earlier, so that'll be my base for now. See ya in the morning." She smiled before she walked out and slammed the door.  
  
"Well," Tony said, chuckling, "She's quite the character, isn't she?"  
  
 _"She's rude, that's what she is. I'm sorry for her behaviour today."_  
  
"Don't mention it. Like I said, I've put up with worse, but that's part and parcel of working in a team."  
  
He knew one of Tony's co-workers was particularly unpleasant to deal with, not only openly hating Shine but also messing up Tony's paperwork on a few occasions when the workload was busy. He came back one day and told him while he stank of beer.  
  
 _"I guess so. I'll tell her to be a bit more patient with you next time."_  
  
"I appreciate the effort." Tony combed his hand through Shine’s fur. "Your coat's all sticky. You weren't slimed on by any chance?"  
  
 _"How did you guess?"_  
  
"Got a bit of it in my hair as a kid once, from a trainer who couldn't keep control of his Goomy. Nasty stuff, that is. I think this calls for another bath."  
  
 _"You sure? Don't you need to back up the video first?"_  
  
"I can do that later." Tony turned off the lightboxes around him, leaving only the dim ceiling lamp on. "I'll get changed so we can start, shall we?"  
  
Moments later, Shine sat with Tony in his anti-static gear as he rinsed the gunk out of his coat.  
  
"So," Tony said, "How did you find her?"  
  
 _"Well, I did say it was a long story. I'll confess, I drew out twenty thousand of your money to get there."_  
  
"Hmm." Tony sprayed Shine in the back with his special shampoo. "I did say that was only for emergencies, like if I was out on a trip and you had to pick up groceries on your own."  
  
 _"Yes, I guess that wasn't much of an emergency. Still, I had to get there as soon as possible. I don't know how I would've found her if I didn't ride a Dragonite there ASAP."_  
  
"Oh, so that's how you got there. What was it like? Can't say I've ever been on one before."  
  
 _"It'll make you sick, but besides that, I'm in debt. What I brought out wasn't enough, so I'm paying it back by teaching some of the dragons the human tongue."_  
  
"Oh really? That's impressive, Shine. Glad to see you're putting your skills to good use again."  
  
 _"Thanks."_  
  
Shine squirmed a little as Tony scrubbed where the Goodra slime hit. It was thick, so it must've taken some force to get out, after all.  
  
 _"I'm sorry I ran off without much notice, I should've waited until you got home from work."_  
  
"No, it's alright. Ines told you we were swamped, so I couldn't blame you if you were itching to go out. I keep thinking you should be going out more often, to be honest."  
  
 _"But you're my trainer, I should tell you these sorts of things."_  
  
"Oh come on, trainer in name only. It’s not like we’re in the league, after all. You're a mature Luxray now, so I wouldn't hold it against you if you went on more trips like these. You've proven yourself to be independent, which is more than I can say for a lot of Pokémon I've met, so own it, for the white god’s sake.”  
  
It crossed Shine's mind often. He would've liked to have seen Lumiose City, if only to see the Plaza Tower there and the massive library, which was one of the biggest in the world. He didn't meet many Pokémon in Ambrette that shared the same wish as him, not even Bauble, but still, there was nothing stopping him from going out more. When he thought about it though, his mind wandered to what could go wrong on the way, like if he was attacked by a random gang of wild Pokémon, which held him back.  
  
 _"I suppose."_  
  
"Well then, something to think about. Say, if you want to make it up for the money you took, I would suggest you to cut the sweet spending for a bit. Deal?”  
  
 _“Deal.”_  
  
After the bath, the two made their way to the studio again to pick the camera up, but on the trip there, Shine glanced at the windowsill. He couldn’t help but smile as he saw his collar resting by the open window. He caught up to Tony and sat back on the couch, thinking back to the conversation Curio had with Tony prior to storming off. There were many other bits and pieces she told about her family at GeL that she didn’t reveal in the interview: how Trunks secretly danced when he thought no one was looking, or how her mother sat with her outside at night and talked about the positions of the stars. Of all memories, she chose those ones to represent her family in the interview, but he guessed she only wanted to tell the most relevant bits. Information shared between people in conversations often gets lost in translation onto the silver screen, after all.  
  
Then he remembered one other thing in the middle of the first year that changed things for the worse. He sprang off the seat.  
  
 _"I'll be right back,"_ he said, _"I've got to talk to Curio."_  
  
Tony nodded as Shine headed out of the apartment to the beach Curio said she would be at, only a few minutes away. It had turned night, and the moonlight cast the sea aglow, with white streaks highlighting the dark blues of the ocean. There were streetlights on the concrete path that illuminated the shore, and there, Curio sat alone, wrapped up in a tattered sleeping bag with her satchel beside her. When Shine walked closer to her, dampening his electric charge as he traipsed through the sand, he noticed Curio fiddling with something in her paw and hand.  
  
“What’re you doing there?” he said, making her ears twitch. “Oh, sorry to surprise you.”  
  
“I’ve got my aura, remember? Sneak attacks do naff all. Come sit with me.”  
  
He obliged, and he leaned over her side to see her handiwork in full view. She held a pair of pliers on one end and a tiny metal object on the other, which she moulded in the shape of a Pokemon, although what species wasn’t clear yet.  
  
“See the Lapras over there?” She gestured over to a pod of the Transport Pokemon swimming in the distance. “I’m makin’ it for them.”  
  
“You seem quite good at that. I recall you sculpted stuff like those back in the facility.”  
  
“Eh, I’ve made better.” She winced, then stopped to look at Shine. “Go on then, you look like you’ve got a Rattata stuck in your throat. Spit it out.”  
  
“O-oh, erm...” He was surprised at that turn of phrase, but kept his composure. “Alright, why on earth are you acting like this towards Tony?"  
  
"I dunno. Just a gut feeling, I guess. Nothing to do with him in particular, he's nice as far as I know. If he wasn’t your trainer, of all things, we’d probably get along better."  
  
"Like I said, please be more patient with him. The last thing he needs after work is a Pokémon with spikes arguing with him."  
  
"Alright, alright." Curio held hew paws up in front of her. "I'll ease up on him. I just need time, is all."  
  
Shine looked Curio in the eye and inched close to her. She must've sensed his emotions as she put a paw around him.  
  
"You're thinkin’ about my family as well, aren’t you?"  
  
"Well, I know you talked about it before. So what actually happened to them in the end, will you tell me?"  
  
"Eh, maybe another time. I’ll blab about it next session, so I’ll save my answers for then."  
  
“Why not now?” Shine stood in front of her and looked at her pleadingly. “We’re alone here. Besides, I know how much you were shaken up when--”  
  
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She held her paw in front of her. “I said I’ll talk about it later.”  
  
As much as he wanted his answers immediately, he knew he wouldn’t get anywhere with Curio’s stubborn attitude, so he relented.  
  
"I see. Do you think you’d be up to answer Tony’s questions on GeL next?"  
  
"Yeah. As much as I hate it, I can't keep avoidin’ the past like Liam, or Dad did. I guess that's what I learned from this experience so far.” Curio chuckled. “God, that sounds cheesy,"  
  
"It's not, that sounds great."  
  
Curio hummed as she continued moulding the Lapras, adding a few extra scraps of metal and other bits of junk until she produced a miniature from her paws. The handiwork, or pawdiwork was precise, with what appeared to be recycled blue cans for the body and pieces of foil stuck together for its shell, with little eyes scraped in on the head.  
  
“That’s stunning.” Shine said. “I couldn’t make something like that even if I wanted to.”  
  
“Oh, don’t beat yerself up over it. You still have your writing thing, don’t you?”  
  
Shine squeaked in surprise. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
  
She frowned. “Nevermind.”  
  
Something about her tone struck him as odd, which put a lump in his throat. Why had she mentioned that of all things, and why did she seem so disappointed? He knew about that part vaguely, but he had abandoned it so long ago, it was hardly worth mentioning any-more. He shook his head. It was no use getting worked up over a silly dream like that.  
  
In any case, Curio unrolled the blanket and padded towards the edge of the shore, Shine following closely beside her. Kneeling down, Curio placed the miniature on the surface of the water, much to his surprise.  
  
“What are you doing?” he said.  
  
“Hold it,” she said, and pushed it along the surface. It floated, bobbing up and down with the motion of the waves, and headed towards the direction of the Lapras pod, where it continue to swim until it was no longer in sight. “Let’s hope they’ll see it.”  
  
The tide carried it forward for a considerable moment of time, cruising through the moonlit waters at a steady pace, nearly surfing as the waves grew in size and force, then sank underwater.  
  
“After all that,” Shine said.  
  
“Oh well,” Curio said, yawning. “Hopefully, that Gyrados geezer will find it.”


	16. Interlude - Ambrette's Climbers

The next day started on an odd note. After Tony said his goodbyes to Shine for work, he came back with a bucket on his head; his suit dripping with water and covered in glitter. Tony had shock written on his face, probably the most surprised Shine had seen him in a long time, and Shine found himself feeling something similar.

_"What on Earth?"_ Shine said.

"That's what I want to know!" Ugh!" Tony wrung his shirt dry, although the rest of his face was sparkling pink. "I can't go to the office like this, I need to get changed! Crap, I'm gonna be late at this rate!"

Tony rushed to the shower to rid himself of the sparkly substance. Shine thought he'd save some time for him by getting him a new change of clothes, all wrapped up beforehand for him, which he picked up with his mouth and laid at the nearest couch. He also thought he'd see who was responsible, if they were still around, so he turned on his golden vision to see through the walls outside. He saw a Lucario hanging around on the opposite side of the floor, although one particular detail about their left arm told Shine everything he needed to know about who the perpetrator was. He clenched his teeth, waiting for Tony to leave so he could tell Curio off.

Time passed and Tony emerged from the bathroom, scrambling to put his new change of clothes on. As soon as he got dressed, Tony headed for the door, but not before saying this.

"Crazy kids these days.”

Shine waited a moment before checking outside, and who else would be waiting for him but Curio, sporting that toothy grin of hers.

"Yo! Hope you slept well after yesterday!"

"Why did you do that? After what I told you about being patient with him?"

"Yeah, I understood that. Doesn't mean I can't twist his arm a little, huh?"

"Yes, but he might be late for work thanks to you."

"Oh well, he'll be fine. Now," she rubbed her paws together, "What're we up to today?"

"Apologise first, and I'll tell you."

"Alright, fine, sorry."

"And say you're sorry to Tony when you meet him as well."

"Yeah, I got it! Now, what're we doing?"

"Well…” He moved back into the house with Curio, and thought about what the two would do around town since Curio would be the tourist in this situation. There were plenty of places, but where would he start? There was the library, since that was his go to place, but she would probably find that boring, or would she?

"Yeah," Curio said, stopping his train of thought, "The library sounds dumb. How about I start?"

"But I didn't say--" He stopped himself. Again, Curio was as omniscient as ever. "Alright, fine. You decide what to do."

"Okey dokey. How about a house tour?"

"I thought you said this place was a, um, dunghole."

"Yeah, I exaggerated a bit. It would be nice to see what you get up to, though."

"Alright then. Follow me."

The first place he thought of was his bed, right in the corner of Tony's bedroom, It consisted of a round plush bed with an assortment of cushions, a light stand, and a lengthy bookcase installed near Shine's height at the back. He was quite proud of the little study space Tony pulled together.

"Cute,” Curio said with a quirked eye, “Is that it, or is your pad the only interestin’ thing in the house?"

"No," Shine said, looking from left to right to find other points of interest, then it struck him. "Oh, just remembered! Barley should've sent me a friend request."

"A what now?" Curio said, head cocked. Shine led the way to their computer and turned it on; fans whirring in the background.

"Oh! I see! Haven't touched those in ages! So it still lets you look anything up and stuff?"

"Yes," Shine said with a smile, "But you can do much more than that. You can watch videos, talk to friends with a connection, and much more. It's really taken off over the past few years."

The room was silent for a bit as they stared at the loading screen.

"This might take a little while," he said.

"Whatever you say, mon," Curio said, stomach growling. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" he said, but Curio didn't answer, going into the kitchen without his say-so. He thought of stopping her, as it was customary to ask first before raiding someone else's fridge, but he was sure Tony didn't mind. Besides, Curio wasn't in as comfortable a position as Shine was.

"Want anythin'?" Curio called from the other room. “There’s, like, a buttload of stuff here.”

"No thanks.”

Later, Curio returned to his side, munching on a cucumber as she stared at the start-up screen of the PokeOS.

"What now?" she said.

"Oh, I've got it." Shine swung in his seat and put his paw on a trackball, which he used to navigate the screen in lieu of a mouse. The home screen’s wallpaper was of him and Tony together, which Curio snorted at. After waiting for it to fully start, he brought up the web browser and inhaled.

_"Celebi, search, PokeSpeaker's Forum, first result."_

His words brought the home page of the titular forum up, where Shine had a friend invite from 1 user named ‘ChildishAudino’.

"So what is this site?" Curio asked.

"Oh, this is a place where human-speaking Pokémon can talk online, or trainers that want to get involved in the community as well. It’s small with around maybe five hundred users, but it has its place."

"Woah, awesome. I never woulda known this place woulda existed if you hadn't shown me."

Shine swiveled to her direction.

"Well, there are lots of places online for little communities like ours. Besides, seeing how you're a teacher yourself, I'm surprised you haven't come across this before."

"Ya know.” She bit off a huge chunk, "I don't boffer wiff that thort of thuff. I travel a lot, and iff not like I can afford a fanfy computer like that."

"Really? Have you not been to the library once since you escaped? They do have computers there you can use for free."

"A few timeth, for filmth and stuff." Curio swallowed. "Never really had the need to be cooped up in a library all day."

"Well, that's a good place to start. And if you need to find someone to hire you, this site's the place to post. You can set up an account here now if you like."

"Eh, I'll pass." Then, Curio's face lit up, tapping the monitor.

"Don't do that, the screen's sensitive."

"Hold up, I'm trying to think! Ooh, can you search up GeL and see if anything's there?"

Shine shook his head. "Sadly, I've found nothing."

"Oh come on!” She leaned into the monitor. “ _Celebi, Gestalt Learning Facility!_ ”

As predicted, only a few hundred results showed up. When faced with this, Curio overtook the trackball and scrolled through all of them, only to find they were all unrelated to the GeL project, just links leading to Gestalt theory.

"What the…”

"Sorry." Shine shifted himself forward, wheeling him back in place. "As far as I know, all of it's been covered up. Me and Tony looked everywhere, even at the old archives in all the libraries we could go to and couldn't find anything. If it's not on the Web, it's not anywhere else."

Curio gave Shine a hard look, and for a moment, Shine could see that hollowness in her eyes, the same one he saw days before when he first mentioned GeL. Then it disappeared and Curio looked her usual chirpy self again.

"Oh well," she said, "Worth a shot anyway." Curio popped the last of the cucumber in her mouth, chewing noisily. "Warra go outh noo?"

"Please talk after you've eaten."

Curio narrowed her eyes at him and swallowed.

"I said, wanna go out now?"

"Right now?" Shine said, leaping off the chair, "Don't you want to see more of this?"

"Eh, later. My eyes’d go square if I stared at it all day. Besides, you're still my tour guide, ya know."

"That's true." Shine nodded. "Well, where to next?"

"The centre, of course! There's always somethin' interesting going on there!"

"Right, town square it is." Shine went towards the door, then caught a glimpse of the windowsill in the kitchen. "Actually. Can you help me put my collar back on?"

"Really?" she said, frowning, "You want that stupid thing on?"

"It’s not stupid, and yes, please. It's in the kitchen, the red thing by the window. You shouldn't miss it."

"Whatever." Curio went to retrieve it and came up behind Shine, adjusting the collar around his neck. "I thought you would've preferred it without it, being free and all."

"I don't have to put it on," Shine said, grunting as Curio clipped it around his neck, "It's just a present Tony got, so I'd like him to see it on me."

Curio mumbled to herself, and looked at Shine with his collar on at last. She put a paw on her hip. "Nah, really doesn't suit you."

"Oh well," he said, not wanting to dwell on it anymore, "Let's get a move on."

Shine made his way out of the complex with Curio and walked through the sun-baked streets to the town centre as it started to become more crowded towards noon. Tourists in casual wear came with their Pokémon, carrying various things such as toys, balls and surfboards for the beach as the tide was picking up. To Shine’s sensitive pink nose, there was a faint air of collective body odour coming in from the crowd, but didn’t think to complain about it. It was the summertime, when it was acceptable to walk in nothing but your briefs, after all.

Deeper into the plazas, the stalls were already out in the very centre of the town, selling bread, berries, ice cream, and other knicknacks every visitor could hope to chance upon. Shine looked over to Curio, who had disappeared near a stall that sold pastries, reaching out towards a scone while the owner tended to his stock at the back. Shine went up to her quickly before she could lay her paw on it, and nudged her leg.

"What are you doing?" he whispered.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Curio replied.

"Can I help you at all?" the owner chimed in, staring at the one armed Lucario, dumb-struck. He caught Shine and smiled to him. "Oh, hello. Do you want the usual?"

Shine sniffed at the contents of the stall and leaned towards them, mouth watering at the sweet smells of caramelized apples and cinnamon topped crusts. He only got so far before he shook his head and pulled away. _"No thanks, I'm afraid. Tony told me to cut out the sweet spending for now."_

He nodded. "Fair enough. Our turnovers will be waiting for you in the future." Shine bowed to him and shot a glance at Curio to wrangle her out of the scene.

"Were you about to steal from him?"

"Yeah," Curio said, "So?"

"So? I don't want your first day to be spent talking to the city watch."

"Second day. And I wouldn't've needed to if you hadn't alerted him."

"Alright, just try not to get into any trouble while you're here, okay?"

"Fine."

They wandered around a bit more until Shine caught sight of a familiar bread stall where the Trainer-Bunnelby duo, Hilda and Bobby, waited. Bobby saw Shine first and started to bounce over to him, only to trip halfway through and land on his face. He groaned as he picked himself up.

"You alright?" Shine said.

"Yeah," Bobby said, smiling through his bloody nose, "Glad to see you've come back."

"How did you know I was out?"

"Tony, of course. But I didn't see you for three days so I had a hunch anyway. Up for some biscuits?"

"Yes please." Shine went with Bobby to the stall. The Bunnelby sprung up on the table counter, waving his paws in front of him as he almost lost balance, but was able to steady himself in time. The owner Hilda noticed Shine next, giving him a dimpled smile.

"'Ello!" she said, "Where've you been?"

_"Out on a trip, ma'am,"_ Shine said, _"How're the kids?"_

"Oh, same old, same old. They won't stop pesterin' Bobby each time they get off school. Won't let 'im up, not even for one second, I tell you." She guffawed in the air, being her loud self, as usual. Then she turned to Curio and rubbed her hands together.

"Hello there! You're a pretty girl, aren't you, yes you are, yes you are!" She spoke in a high pitched squeal as she approached Curio, ready to pet her.

_"Are you high or somethin', lady?"_ she snarled in human tongue. _“And how’d you know I’m a girl?”_

"Ooh, why this one has quite the mouth on her, doesn’t she?" Hilda retracted her hands and her eyes grew wide, though nonetheless happy to be looking at a Lucario. "You certainly bring the most interesting Pokémon with you, Shiny-dear."

_"Yes, you could say that,"_ Shine said. _"Oh, how rude of me. Curio, meet Hilda. Hilda, meet Curio."_ He glanced at Curio and prodded her with his tail. If all went well, Curio would let down her guard and be the civilised Pokémon she was meant to be. Thankfully, she smiled, and handed Hilda her paw.

_"Nice meetin' ya. Lay off the baby talk and we can be friends."_

"Will try," Hilda returned the offer and gave her a handshake, "Don't mind me, it's just force of habit, that's all. You close with Shine?"

_"Yeah, I guess."_

"Are you closer than that, perhaps?"

_"Dream on, lady."_

Hilda gave her signature boisterous laugh and walked to the opposite end of her store. "Only just teasin', I love a bit o' gossip. 'Ere."

She returned with two bags of homemade biscuits, which was tradition for Shine to get whenever they met. Curio beamed at the sight of it.

"For you and Shiny-dear." She handed one bag to Curio and gestured for Shine to lean up on the counter. He did so and she wrapped the bag around his collar. "'Ave one now if you'd like."

_"Well, gee, thanks."_ Curio undid the plastic wrap and devoured one of the biscuits. She hummed as she chewed.

_"What do you put in thith, thith is goof!"_

Another dimpled smile. "That's a secret, dearie." She turned to Shine. "Anything planned for t'day?"

_"Why yes, I'm showing Curio around the place, since she's new here."_

"Oh, is she?" Hilda said, "Well, I hope you two ‘ave fun. It's nice seein' you again, and to meet you as well, Curio-dear."

Shine bowed while Curio smiled back at Hilda. _"Keep up the good work, lady,"_ she said, popping another biscuit in her mouth, _"Peath."_

They went off to explore more of the stalls, while were made up of some familiar faces that greeted Shine and not-so familiar faces that stared at the two as they passed by. After exploring long enough, they looped back to Hilda’s stall, where they caught a glimpse of Bobby serving a customer, counting with the digits of their paws.

“ _Nine-ty, please.”_

The customer handed over the change and Bobby carefully navigated through the maze of tupperware to retrieve a bag of caramel shortbread.

“ _Thanks.”_

Shine smiled, as it always warmed his heart to see his former student putting his work to good use. Curio nudged Shine with her foot.

“So you taught him, huh? Good for you.”

He was about to tell her off for reading his mind again, but thought against it.

“It’s the least I can do for being a part of this town. There isn’t much of a community here when it comes to Pokemon speaking human.”

“Well then why don’t you make one, like what Barley does?”

He frowned. Whenever he thought about it, the idea always fell through in his head, as he pictured all sorts of scenarios where he struggled to run a club and got too anxious to continue, overburdened with the responsibility of being on his own. Instead, he answered “I don’t know. Never thought about it.”

Curio scoffed on one of the cookies. “Whatether. Leth find someplathe elthe.”

Next, they went closer to the seaside, where the tourist parts of the area usually bustled, and today was no exception. As usual, there were lines of people and Pokémon waiting outside for ice cream vendors, and the occasional screaming toddler that came out of the arcades as well. They walked on the pavement, looking into the views of the amusements as Curio pointed to several of the machines there.

"Look!" she said.

"What am I looking at exactly?" Shine said. Curio patted his shoulder and brought him along with her to see a crane game filled with all sorts of Pokémon plushies. She flashed Shine another toothy grin.

"You reckon I could beat one of these?" she said.

"Probably not. They're rigged."

"Yeah, I know it's mostly about luck, but I still have a chance, don't I? And think about it, why do anything if you always think you’re gonna lose?"

"Can’t say I thought about it that way, but perhaps we should find some tokens first."

"Yeah, that would help." She looked from her left to her right, then clicked her paw. "X-ray vision!"

"What?"

"Yeah, use your x-ray vision to see if there are any of them tokens lying about!"

Shine chuckled. "You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm dead serious!"

"Look, my golden vision can see through walls and buildings to detect people, much like your aura. I'm not some magical coin-seeking fairy."

"Well," she said, pointing to the area behind her, "Let's look anyway."

He wondered what the point of all this was as he wandered the arcades along with Curio in her token-seeking escapades. Their results proved fruitless until he caught sight of a few coins hiding under the crevice of another machine, which Curio picked up with glee. They inserted the coins into the machine, which was enough for one play. Curio flexed her arms, preparing to hit GO.

"Fat chance," Shine said, "Payouts are usually one in a hundred."

"I reckon I can be that one then. In fact, I'll bet on it. If I lose, I'll go along with whatever you say for the rest of today. If I win, you can go eat an old shoe."

He opened his maw to protest, but something in his gut told him he was going to have to get used to her impulsive betting.

"Fine, you're on."

"Sweet." Curio slammed the button and the game started. She was eyeing a large Ursaring in the corner, which she targeted with her claw. It descended on the teddy bear, dragging the poor inanimate object by its ear as it brushed past all the other trapped plushies. Then it let go, releasing the giant plush into the winning hole, only to be stuck inside. Shine looked on, gobsmacked. Curio grinned widely as she stuck her paw in the slot and squeezed her prize out. She hugged it in her arms as they walked out into the sunlight again.

"Told ya so. I hope you like the taste of shoe, Shine."

"There's no way I'm doing that. You've made your point, I'm not playing along with your bet this time."

"C'mon, a deal's a deal."

"Not this time."

"Aw." Curio stopped and stared at her newly won companion in its beady eyes. "Tell me, is Shine a wuss-puss?" She shook its body gently. "Oh, he is?" Curio turned to Shine again and presented the toy in front of him. "See, even he thinks so and his guts are made of wool!"

"Oh, har har har. You should be good friends with him then, seeing how your brain is full of wool too."

The two stared daggers at each other for a moment, then laughed as they embraced each other, two Pokémon and one stuffed bear in arms.

"You ain't half bad, Sunshine," Curio said.

"And you." Shine said.

"Who?" A squawky voice called. The two broke away from each other to see Bauble standing on the floor, beak upturned.

"You come to steal him away from me?" Bauble said, staring Curio down.

"And you are?"

"Oh," Shine said, standing beside the Murkrow. "This is Bauble."

Curio's eyes lit up as she pointed at her. "Oh yeah, you were that friend he was talking about."

"Yeah," Bauble said, preening her coat, "And what's it to you?"

"Oh, so you're jealous, huh? Relax, I'm not competing with you, it's not like some friendship measuring contest."

"You're spending time with him without me," she said, "That's competition enough."

Curio shrugged and shoved the Ursaring in the bag, fishing through the rest of its contents with her whole arm in it. "Say, is it true what they say about you Murkrow liking glowy things?"

"Don't know what you're talkin' about. That won't work on--" Bauble stared in awe as Curio pulled out a red looking stone, a ruby by the looks of it, whose innards gleamed in the sunlight. “Ooh! Shiny shiny!”

"You can have it if you want." Curio laid it on the floor and Bauble immediately flocked to pick it up, keeping it stowed away safely in her mouth. Shine looked at Bauble, who looked as happy as a Clamperl.

"I promise I'll spend time with you as well." Shine said and bowed to her. “Thanks to you, I was able to find an old friend I haven't seen in a long time. I'm truly thankful."

Bauble laid the stone back on the pavement and smiled at him. "Well, make it up to me later, will ya? I see you've got your collar back as well."

"Yes, why did you give it back, though? You seemed happy to have it."

"I know," she said with a wink, "I was just yankin' your tail. Thanks for the shiny!"

Bauble picked the ruby back and bobbed her head to them as she took off in the air, disappearing past the buildings.

"Imagine you,” Curio said, “Hangin’ around with someone like that.”

“What do you think I’m doing right now?” Shine said with a grin.

Curio kicked his behind, which they both laughed off. Once they had enough of walking through the beach, they decided to go up a path that led to the cliffside, which gave them a good view of the town from up high. They saw the amusements they passed by moments ago as just a speck beside the blue chunk of sea, and down below the edge, they could see both the aquarium and the marine centre.

"So," Curio said, "What does Tony actually do? I know he dives and stuff."

"That's only a small part of the job. A lot of it is just checking out the environment by the seaside, examining the life there and collecting data based off of it. If any Pokémon's in serious danger, his job is to help rescue and rehabilitate them."

"Sounds exciting."

"I've heard it can be, but he says it's mostly just dealing with paperwork."

"Eh, maybe not then."

Curio stopped, taking a closer look at the building, which was connected to the back of the aquarium and functioned as a backdoor office to it. She squinted her eyes at it, or rather through it, as Shine had seen that look quite a few times whenever she was about to read something's aura. She looked back to Shine and put a paw on her chin quizzically.

"Say, what do you call those Pokémon that have arms and such, but their lower half is just a fin?"

"Is this the start of a joke?"

"Not this time."

"Ah, well." He hadn't thought of checking what the office was working on the day he heard of the news surrounding Curio. Tony seemed to be busier than usual since he got back, but it didn't occur to him until the aura Pokémon mentioned it. He turned on his golden vision to confirm her description, and true to her word, there was a finned Pokémon that rested in some sort of aquatic chamber. If he remembered correctly, it was...

"A Primarina."

"Huh," Curio said, "Strange. How did that get here?"

"It's not exceedingly rare to have Alolan Pokémon wash up on this shore, but I've never seen something as big as that here before."

"Oh yeah?" She took a few steps forward. "Well, let's check it out."

"We can't," Shine said, stopping her. "I'm only really allowed in on the best of days, and that's only because I'm with Tony. Why would they let a random Lucario waltz in?"

"Well, I could just say I'm his new Pokémon and leave it at that. But why not sneak in?"

"Absolutely not. If it's resting, it's extremely important that we don't disturb it. We don't know why they're there in the first place."

"Well, we can try to take a closer peek, can't we?"

"No," he said flatly. Curio crossed her arms.

"I don't like your attitude. Who peed in your water bowl this morning, for godssakes?"

"That's got nothing to do with that. I'm just following his rules, as you should do this time too."

"Yeah.” She shook her metal fist. "Of course you would, like any good Pokémon tied to its master."

She stormed off, making her way further down the path as Shine tried to catch up with her. Her paws were dangerously close to the cliff-face.

"Let's not have this argument now, please! Why does everything have to circle back to me being his Pokémon all the time?"

"I dunno, why can't you just take a risk for once?"

"This isn't about that, this is about the other Pokémon there. Try thinking about someone else for once."

"And who came along with you for this interview, huh?!" Her feet stomped on the rocky floor, still inching closer to the edge.

"Curio, please, get away from the edge, you're gonna fall!"

"Stop tellin' me what to do, Shine! I--" A rock broke out from under her left paw. She slipped off the edge.

Shine gasped, too shocked for words at first. When he gathered himself, he scrambled immediately to where Curio had fallen, heart beating in his throat. He couldn't see her anywhere below, not even in mid air as he could only see the yellow surface of the beach.

"Curio!” he shouted, "Answer me if you're there, Curio! Curio!"

"Hey," a distant voice called, "To your right."

Shine glanced to his side and saw Curio huddled near the cliff, hanging onto the wall with all four paws nestled in the crevices. From far away, she craned her neck to look up to him.

“Oh, thank goodness you’r—” He yelped when he realized her predicament. “Wait, what am I doing, I need to send for help!"

"No need! I just have to scale down a bit so I can reach the shore. If I can reach my foot down."

"I can't just leave you hanging there!"

"Sure you can, I'll be fine, I just have to..." Curio's voice trailed off. Shine looked down to see she was kicking at the wall to see where she could put her foot. She struggled for a while, then stopped.

"Bugger. Um, Shine, there isn’t a way down, and I’m not riskin’ the climb up there. I’m gonna do something very stupid. Meet me back down at the shore." Without warning, Curio leapt off the edge.

"Curio!" he screamed. Shine bolted through the rest of the cliff, kicking gravel into the air along the way, until he ran down the stairs that lead to the beach area. Curio laid down on her left from far away.

"Curio!” He charged over to her. “Are you alright?"

She smiled.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Can you fetch that bag for me please?" She pointed at it, which was closer to the rock wall on the floor. Shine nodded and brought it to her, which she clutched with her metal arm. "I might have to head to the Pokémon Centre later though."

Shine cocked his head. "Why?"

"Well," Curio winced as she raised her right arm, which limped and bent at an odd angle. "That should be reason enough."

Shine gasped. He stared at the other arm Curio just broke, and a cluster of thoughts rushed in at once.

"Why, your arm, what are you g-going to do?! I-I mean, how did that happen? How are they going to replace it? Why--"

"Don't lay an egg over it. It can be fixed up in a matter of hours," Curio said as she knelt up, supporting herself with her metal arm firmly on the ground, "They can fix cuts and broken bones of course. See this bad boy for example?” She traced her hand over the large scar which stretched from her muzzle over to the left side of her face. “Really nasty crap happened to me with that, and I made it out fine.”

Shine sighed in relief. No, he told himself, it wasn't like the arm where— never mind. Don’t dwell on it. As long as blood cells could be regenerated or bone tissue could be fixed, it wasn't a problem. That much relieved him. But he felt an urge deep in his gut, something that burned within him with the heat of the spiciest herbs Kalos had to offer. He sunk his paws deep into the sand, then, taking one pace back, he tackled Curio, knocking her to the ground.

"Shine, what the--"

"Don't scare me like that, dammit!" Shine roared in her face. "You've got to be more careful around these parts, I don't even know what would happen if I lost you here suddenly! What were you thinking?!"

Curio frowned.

"I dunno. I do stupid crap sometimes. Sorry."

Shine sighed and relaxed, taking himself off of Curio's body.

"Alright. But for next time, please listen to me if I ask you not to do something. Am I clear?"

Curio smiled, and rubbed Shine's back with her good arm. "Yeah, you're clear. Help me up a sec."

Shine hooked his claws into the ground, allowing Curio to use his body for support as she got herself up again. She looked around at the rest of the beach where a few people crowded and stared at her.

“ _Oh, take a picture,”_ she yelled _, “It freaking lasts longer!”_

With that, they went back to their own business, and once they all dispersed, she turned back to Shine.

"As your last duty for tour guide for today, can you take me to the Pokémon Centre?"

Shine grumbled and led the way.

The last leg of the trip passed in silence. Even though the rest of the town was still just as busy as ever, Shine drowned out the noises of the crowd as his thoughts stewed on the events that passed in the past few hours. What was Curio playing at? From what he remembered of the past, she didn't seem that aggressive, but now, he felt like he had to traipse his paws through a path of eggshells to talk with her. If this way how she behaved on a regular day, how would she act when going down to Tony's again, after yesterday's excursion, or today’s prank?

Then, Curio broke the silence.

"Sorry I'm being an ass at the moment."

Shine muttered a reply, not wanting to agree or disagree with her.

"I've got no excuse for it, it's just the way I am sometimes. I can't easily help it. Once I feel something, I just have to run with it, you know."

"Right," Shine said, "I just want to know what goes through your head sometimes. It must be nice having aura powers and all."

"Well yeah, it is, sometimes. But other times, I wish I didn't have it, prying into other people's thoughts and stuff. It ruins the surprise of meeting people when you can instantly know what they're thinking about you, or what their favourite meal is, or what time in the day they usually have to pee."

"Why not stop?"

"It's not as simple as that. It's how we usually survive in the wild. It's how I survived when I left. I can't just flick it off like a light-switch, now it's just another impulse. But anyway, I will make it up for you and Tony when I come in today. Somehow."

"Are you sure you want to continue the interview after taking that fall?"

Curio nodded vigorously. "Of course! I wanna talk about what happened at GeL, I really wanna pick his brain about it as well! So once I get this sorted, I promise I'll meet you there! I swear it on my tail!"

"Well," Shine said, staring at the adorned red top of the building in front of him, "We’re here. Can you take yourself in?"

"Yeah," Curio said, heading towards the entrance of the Pokémon centre. "Well, thanks. See ya."

She waved as she entered the building, leaving Shine alone once more.


	17. Interlude - Ambrette's Diners

Shine headed back home to the apartment, and cooled himself as he laid down in a shady spot. It had turned quiet without Curio, a silence he could've done with after his argument with her. The breeze came in lightly through the window. The clock ticked in the background. It would’ve been a couple more hours until Tony came back home.  
  
To pass the time, he thought he'd check the network for any new messages, and he clicked in silence: nothing new from Barley or anyone else. Shine entertained the idea of sending him a message instead, just to say hello, but as he stared at the blank text box, he might as well have been mute as no words could escape his lips. He had a history of making new contacts on that site, only to get too cramped up to reply back.  
  
He abandoned the idea and went back to his usual pastime, getting a fantasy book out from his makeshift shelf and picking a spot in the indoor shade to continue where he left off. Sometimes, it was nice to escape into a completely different world, after all. Even ones that had entirely different ecosystems from his: ones without Pokemon, or ones that had Pokemon without humans, like the Mystery Dungeon games. Sometimes, he toyed with making his own worlds, but those would never be realized.  
  
He read on and on. The ticking of the clock grew louder. Shine fidgeted in his spot. All the while, there was that lingering feeling of dread, not from forgetting something, but rather, missing something. He glanced at the clock. Only half an hour had passed. He wondered if the clock was fast or slow. Then he shook his head.  
  
This wasn't an unusual day for him to be on his own, and sometimes, that's all he wanted, to be alone, but after spending time with Curio for so long, Shine was at a loss for himself. He stopped reading and paced around the room, figuring out what he should do. The treatment of her arm wouldn't be for a few hours or so. He wasn’t particularly worried about her well-being, since again, broken bones could’ve been repaired. Then why had he flipped out at her like that?  
  
Something tugged at the back of his mind. It was a niggle, but the sensation was there all the same. The vague memory of seeing her, back in there, back in that room, strapped to the...  
  
Shine shook his head and looked to the front door. If all he was going to do was wait for time to pass, he might as well have done it where there were people, and where he had a purpose to waiting rather than lounging around the house all day. It was decided. He carried the book in his mouth and left through the flap.  
  
He continued reading once he got to the waiting area of the Pokémon centre. Even though he did basically the same thing as he would’ve in the comfort of his own home, time passed much quicker than in lonely silence. Plus, having people and Pokémon to listen in on every once a while gave him a sense of belonging, even though he came on his own.  
  
Shine read a few hundred pages of his book before a paw prodded his side. He looked up and there Curio was, holding her paw up to him as if she hadn't broken it moments ago.  
  
"Is everything alright, now?" Shine said.  
  
"Yup!" Curio said, "Good as new. Again, sorry about earlier.”  
  
“That’s fine,” he said with a smile. “Honestly, I’m just glad you’re alright, even though I know you’d be fine.”  
  
“Uh huh, so now whaddo we do?"  
  
"Let’s see..." Shine glanced at the big clock in the centre, and stood up. "Tony should be back by now, actually. If you have nowhere else to go, you can have dinner with us."  
  
"Please. What's on the menu for today?"  
  
"Steak."  
  
"Ooh, awesome!" Curio rubbed her paws together.  
  
"If you're polite, I'm sure Tony will let you have some."  
  
"I will!"  
  
Shine picked his book up and headed outside with Curio, as they walked in the light of the orange sky. They got short of entering Tony's apartment again when Shine spat his book out.  
  
"Can you wait here so I can speak to Tony quickly? I promise I won't be very long."  
  
"Go right ahead."  
  
Shine headed through the flap once more, taking the book back first, then joined Tony as he rested on the couch.  
  
 _"Hello,"_ Shine said. _"Hope you didn't have too much trouble rushing into work."_  
  
"It's fine," Tony said, smiling as he put his arm around Shine, "I got there just in time, but still, I don't know what the hell happened back then. Well, I have a hunch."  
  
“ _What h...”_ Shine trailed off and purred. His one weakness was Tony stroking him in that certain sweet spot at his side. Well technically speaking, water attacks were his main weakness, but as far as weaknesses went, this was one of the better ones to have.  
  
"How's Curio?" Tony said, taking his hand off.  
  
 _"Oh, yes, she's fine. Listen."_ Shine sat up, looking his trainer in the eye. _"Do you mind if she joins us for dinner tonight? I know it might be a bit of a tall order considering, well, you know."_  
  
Tony nodded. "I don't mind. I got an extra steak from shopping so that will save it going to waste. Where is she anyway?"  
  
 _"She's waiting outside. Can I let her in now?"_  
  
"Of course."  
  
Shine leapt off the seat and stood on his hind-legs to pull the door open. There, Curio waited outside, facing the glittering seaside view as her legs poked out of the railing. Her ears perked up and she craned her neck towards Shine.  
  
"Is it cool to come in now?" she said, to which, Shine nodded. Curio stood up and came in with him to the living room. When she locked eyes with Tony, he smiled at her, but she didn't smile back. A moment passed. The clock still ticked.  
  
 _"Ahem,"_ Shine said, _"I believe Curio wants to say something to you."_  
  
 _"Oh, do I?"_ Curio said, laughing nervously, _"Um, what is there to say?"_  
  
Shine nudged her leg, giving her a pointed look.  
  
 _"Right."_ She clasped her paws together. _"Tony, I'm sorry for the trouble I caused today. I planted that bucket outside your house. I didn't mean anythin' by it, I just had to get it outta my system, that's all."_  
  
Tony raised an eyebrow.  
  
 _"And,"_ Curio continued, _"I'm sorry for actin' like an ass last night too. And calling your place a shithole. It's a very nice place, actually."_  
  
To diffuse the tension, Tony smirked and batted a hand at her.  
  
"It's alright. Everything turned out fine in the end, so no need to worry." He shielded his mouth with his hand. "It's actually kind of funny, looking back on it."  
  
 _"So,"_ Curio said, putting a paw on her hip, _"You're not mad or anythin'?"_  
  
"Don't see any reason to be now."  
  
 _"Oh, come on!"_ Curio pointed at him. _"After all that, you're still not gonna put up a fight? Say something! Anything!"_  
  
"Curio," Shine said, giving her a severe look, "Why are you behaving like this?"  
  
"I just don't get it! How he's still letting me into his house is beyond me. Like, what part of his brain is missing to make him actually give a damn? Why--"  
  
Curio stopped. Tony had stood up and was approaching her. She took a step back, putting her metallic hand on her spiked chest, and looked away.  
  
"Curio," Tony said, "Please look at me."  
  
She complied. Shine stood beside her, and saw Tony's confident gaze: he wasn't without scorn, but he looked relaxed as well.  
  
"I will be honest, I wasn't expecting you to react the way you did last night, and you could've handled it a lot better than you did. If this was anybody else, I would've told them to get the hell off of my property."  
  
 _"Why keep me here at all then?"_ she said, pouting.  
  
"Because I want to help you. You and Shine both went through a lot of trouble to get here, and after being apart from each other for so long, I can see you're conflicted, and probably just want to vent. This doesn't excuse your behaviour, but I understand what you're going through."  
  
She glowered at him. _"No you don't. How could you get anything us Pokémon go through? You never had to go through half the **** I went through to get here, in this comfy house."_  
  
Tony shook his head. "You know, Shine said the same thing at one point, didn't you?"  
  
Shine nodded.  
  
"And you're right," Tony continued, "I'm not a Pokémon. I will never know what it means to be one either. But I've helped out quite a few marine Pokémon in my career, and believe me, I've seen how harsh the world is at sea. And, having known Shine all this time, I can relate to what he’s been through, at least. This is why I started this documentary in the first place, to know him better. And I hope I can get to know you better too, someday. So," Tony held out a hand towards her, "Can we forget either of us are human or Pokemon and just get along as people?"  
  
Curio's mouth opened. She stared at the hand for a moment, the breeze still blowing from the window. Then, she gazed at Tony and smiled.  
  
 _"Yeah,"_ she shook his hand, _"Sure."_  
  
“Thank you. It’s nice to make your acquaintance at last, Curio.” He released his grip and headed towards the kitchen; the two following behind him. He started to reach inside the cupboards for the dishes.  
  
"We're having steak, if you're still up for it."  
  
 _"Shine told me, yeah. I could murder a Miltank, actually."_  
  
"Good to hear. Can I fix you a drink to go along with it? Some cocoa, maybe?"  
  
 _"Hah, you actually noticed. Yeah, I’d love a cuppa."_  
  
"Alright."  
  
Curio watched him prop the plates on the counter, before prodding his shoulder.  
  
 _"Is there anythin' I can do to make it up to you after all this? I’d feel a little shitty if I didn’t do it for him, at least."_  
  
"Well," Tony said, stroking his stubble, "I'm fine at the moment, but if you want to do me a favour, you can clean the dishes after dinner."  
  
Curio scrunched her nose.  
  
 _"Aw, really?"_  
  
"Is that a problem?"  
  
 _"No,"_ Curio said, looking down to both hand and paw, _"I can do that, but making a Pokémon do this?"_  
  
"I don't see why not. Shine does his share of work around the house wherever possible, don't you?"  
  
Shine nodded. _"I'm able to do the floors, at least."_  
  
 _"Alright, alright,"_ Curio said, rubbing the back of her head, _"I'll do it."_  
  
"Thank you, I appreciate the thought." Tony smiled and gestured to the couch. "You can wait in the living room if you want."  
  
Curio nodded and sat with Shine together while Tony was busy preparing dinner. The two didn't talk much, only idly about what Curio got up to in the Pokémon centre, but for the most part, they sat silently in each other's embrace, eventually dozing off together as they took up all the space on the couch.  
  
"Dinner!"  
  
Tony's voice called from the other room, and the two jumped off the seat to head to the dining area. On the table, there were three plates worth of steaks with cheese topped potatoes, accustomed to each diner's liking. Both Pokémon and trainer ate as quietly as possible, while Curio tore into hers, still using the cutlery but by all means, making somewhat of a mess on the table after she was done. Curio groaned, reclining in her seat while she watched the two still go halfway through theirs.  
  
 _"That was the tits,"_ Curio said, _"Thanks Tony."_  
  
"You're welcome," he said in the midst of slicing his own steak.  
  
 _"So, I was wonderin', since me and Shine went near the place you work at and stuff, what's up with that Primarina?"_  
  
Tony put his cutlery down and stared at the two.  
  
"Uh, how do you know about that?"  
  
 _"My aura,"_ Curio said, pointing to herself, _"Duh. Plus, Shine can see through walls and stuff."_  
  
"Yeah, I guess it was bound to come out sooner or later." Tony wrung his hands together. "It was supposed to be kept a secret, though."  
  
 _"And why’s that?"_  
  
"Well, we're treating them at the moment, so unless we can get to the bottom of what's wrong with them, it shouldn't be revealed to the public."  
  
Curio frowned. _"Again, why? You're being kinda vague here."_  
  
"Yeah," Tony said, rubbing his head, "Unfortunately, that's for their own protection. If people find out an Alolan Pokémon got washed up here, we'll be hounded with questions from the press, and we don't want that until it's able to make a full recovery. You get me?"  
  
Curio shrugged and muttered a reply.  
  
 _"So,"_ Shine said, _"What happened to them?"_  
  
"In the morning on the day you left, they washed by the cove with a hole in its back.” Tony formed a circle with his hand the size of a golf ball. “We hope it’s nothing sinister; it might’ve been just been a small tussle with a wild water Pokemon. In any case, we were surprised they didn't die due to blood loss or hypothermia, but as soon as we saw them, we wheeled them into surgery. They’re fine now, but it's been unconscious ever since."  
  
Shine eyed his own plate. _"I see."_  
  
"But," Tony said, skewering a cutlet with his fork and pointing it at the two, "That's where you lot might come in handy, if you're up for it. Once they wake up, you can relay what happened to us. Perhaps they have a trainer already, as most starters do. It might just be a cut and dry case."  
  
 _"Will they mind, since it was supposed to be private?"_ Shine said, to which, Tony shook his head.  
  
"It's a bit too late for it now, I think. As long as you don't tell anyone else, they'll be willing to take you on board. Can I trust you both to keep it a secret?"  
  
The two nodded.  
  
"Alright then." Tony chomped on his mouthful of beef. "Leth finith up and we can thtarth the intherthiew."  
  
After the two finished their dinner, Curio took several trips back and forth from the dining area to the kitchen and started work on cleaning as Shine supervised, whilst Tony was setting up the studio again. She glared at the row of unclean dishes, including a pan that had turned black with grease, and turned to Shine.  
  
"Okay, how do I do this again?"  
  
"Just fill up the basin with warm soapy water and scrub away."  
  
She did her duties without much of an issue, although it took some getting used to at first since Curio scrubbed with her paw while her artificial hand held the dishes in place, whose grip probably could've crushed a Geodude if given permission. She ended up breaking one or two plates and a glass on the way, but Shine assured her it was no skin off Tony’s nose. He observed the way she interacted with everything as if it was some alien artefact, staring at the tap for one minute before Shine had to remind her water came from there. He thought she would’ve grown accustomed to domestic life after staying in the facility for so long. Still, Shine smiled throughout, glad that the two had finally patched things up to some extent.  
  
When she was finished, the two got back to Tony's studio and Curio sat in her usual spot on the interviewee's couch. Like before, Shine sat with Tony as his trainer powered up the camera and prepared his notes.  
  
"So, all ready?"  
  
 _"Hell yeah,"_ Curio said with a smile. Tony counted down and hit the REC button.  
  
"This is interview B, segment GeL, take one. After you came along with Azzy and Mack, you were taken to the facility Gestalt Learning, or GeL for short. How long did you stay there for?"  
  
Curio gave him a sour look.  
  
 _"Didn’t Shine tell you how long already?"_  
  
"Yes, but just tell me as if I didn't, for the uninformed viewer."  
  
 _"But we aren't--"_ Curio stopped, then shrugged. _"Whatever. I stayed there for four years and a bit. I was meant to stay for five, but..."_ Her voice trailed off and she sighed. _"Something happened. I'd rather not talk about that yet."_  
  
"Understandable. So, what was the purpose of the facility?"  
  
 _"Well, it was meant to be what school is to you humans. They not only trained us in every way imaginable, they also taught us a lot about the world and best of all, how to speak. We were encouraged to follow our own passions as well, so the lessons were catered to our interests. If everything went as planned, they were gonna take us to this scientific convention thingy, and set us up for whatever jobs we pleased afterwards.”_  
  
"So, what would you say it was like, in general?"  
  
Curio smiled.  
  
 _"To be honest, and this will sound weird, but warts and all, I had a great time there, at first. I got to meet other cool Pokémon, we had fun when we were able to, and I got a lot of support from the staff. Seriously though, I don’t know how I’d stand livin’ as a Pokemon if I didn’t learn all the stuff I did back there."_  
  
"But," Tony said, looking to his right side, "What about your arm?"  
  
In response, she clutched it and grimaced.  
  
 _"Next question."_  
  
"Alright, understandable. So when you arrived, before the lessons started, what was your first day like?"  
  
 _"First day, hmm."_ Curio held up one digit. _"Yeah, you know what they say about your first days of school, right? Of course, I can't speak like I'm an expert on it, I mean, look at me, but I've been coached enough about the world and seen enough flicks to guess what it's like._  
  
 _"Picture yourself as the snot-nosed kid, for instance, who's just turned old enough to wipe his own ass. His parents send him off to regular school, or trainer school or whatever you humans usually go to, and after they get out of their car and send you off, it feels like you're never gonna see 'em again. But you leave anyway and go into the school building cause you want to see where the day takes you. You're excited to learn, so you think, what's the worst that could happen? Then, as soon as you step into that classroom, that's when it hits you. You've got kids with many different egos and tempers coming together, some that come from the same sheltered background as you, and others that have been through worse and won't take any of your crap. Imagine them coming together in the same room with no one to guide you, and you realise it's the first time you've ever been alone in the world._  
  
 _"Think of that the same way here, except those kids were actually monsters that could’ve burnt your face to a crisp.”_


	18. First Day's Daze

Having grown up on the island, especially as spring came in, I saw a lot of colours. Blue, green, yellow, brown, more blue, for my family of course, and all its different mixtures in the sky. Since I saw those same colours for so long, I was startled whenever something unnatural came onto the island, like a metallic boat, for instance.  
  
Now take that and apply it to an entire room coated in grey, with only bright red lights to illuminate anything. That's where I found myself the first thing after I got out of the Pokeball. A chill ran through my spine all the way to my tail. I span around in a circle, trying to make sense of the room, which was spacious, but felt completely closed off as there were no passages outside as far as I could see. I turned to see Azzy and Mack, which soothed those jitters, but found them coming back when I realised I was still in that darkly lit room.  
  
"What is this?" I said.  
  
"We're in the quarantine bay at the moment."  
  
"Quarantine?"  
  
"Yeah, just to make sure you're clean of anything that could contaminate the rest."  
  
I stared at my feet. Being little dumb me, not knowing what 'quarantine' or 'contamination' meant, it didn't put me at ease. Then, Azzy's round paw grabbed mine, and he smiled.  
  
"It’s not easy for anyone the first time around, so you’re not alone. I'll hold your hand the whole way through, okay?"  
  
I glanced at Mack briefly, who was in the same chamber as us. My heart still pounded. But if another Pokemon or a human was in the same boat as me, that was reassuring enough. I squeezed his paw tightly and kept close to him. Even when the beeping made me squirm, I still didn't let go. It kept on beeping. Beeping still. Then, gas came in from a series of vents, enveloping the whole room in a fog where it blanketed the towering human's face, and eventually, Azzy's as well, to the point where I couldn't see his paw. I felt it, so that was what mattered. Just a moment later, my breaths got more ragged as I inhaled more of it, and my heart beeped faster. I thought my lungs would collapse or something.  
  
I clutched his paw in a death grip, so much so that it felt like I was crushing it, but it was either that or end up screaming the place down. After a moment, I could breathe normally and something sucked out all the gas that came in. Eventually, I saw their faces again. I let go of his paw and collapsed. Thankfully, he caught me before I could get acquainted with the ground, and he embraced me, patting me on the back, repeating the fact that I did a good job. If standing around meant doing a good job, I dunno what doing a bad job would entail.  
  
A gate opened, letting white light into the room. I thought it came from the outdoors. In an attempt to get out of that greyer than grey room, I dashed to the entrance as Azzy and co. ran after me. What I found was another cold looking room. It was white, which was an improvement to the depressing grey, but it wasn't warm like the clouds, but cold like, well, an empty void. It was as featureless as the last room, but more cramped as it was a hallway with people in white suits lined up in a row. Again, there was no exit in sight at the end. I turned to the duo, holding my chest, and Azzy took my paw again.  
  
"It will be fine, just do as they say and you'll be able to relax afterwards."  
  
I only nodded. I wasn't in the mood for arguing at that moment.  
  
Azzy walked ahead of me and approached the first strange face: a woman in an apron. She knelt down to my level and smiled.  
  
 _"Come,"_ she said, as plainly as I could understand it. That was when Azzy released me. I turned to him, about to gesture for help when he patted me on the shoulder.  
  
"It's alright, she'll just be taking you for a wash."  
  
"But I'm already clean!" I said. I probably wasn't, considering showers were an alien concept to me back then, but I wanted a good excuse not to be taken away from the familiar Pokemon. He just nodded and guided my paw to the woman's hand, who took me down another hallway into a wetroom with a bath in it. Before I had the chance to consider what its purpose was, the woman closed the door behind me. I dunno why, but I panicked. I ran to the door and banged on it, calling for Azzy's help, but of course, I was already there.  
  
I looked up to the knob. Seeing no other way out, I tried to jump to turn it, but my paw barely scraped it. The woman picked me up from behind, and fearing the worst, I kicked and screamed in her clutches, which of course, didn't work. She had a damn strong grip for a human, I must say. She lowered me into the bath, which I started to splash around in, but as soon as I adjusted to the warm sensation of the water, I stopped and sat still. Even though I was stuck in the unknown, that water had a soothing effect on me, and I forgot about what had happened soon enough.  
  
Which reminds me, I went to a few hot springs after I got out, and god, that was nice. That sort of stuff, bathing in hot water, is supposed to calm your nerves, after all, although I can't remember why. I'm surprised I haven't seen any bathhouses since I got here in Kalos. Maybe we should look it up one day and find out.  
  
Anyway, the woman scrubbed me clean of all the grime I had accumulated before. I squirmed as she coursed the brushes through my coat, but unlike before, I didn't kick up a fuss. It was over before it even started, as she picked me back up and stood me up in a drying pod, which felt like G-force in my face. It got the job done quickly, and soon enough, she opened the door and chaperoned me back to the hallway where Azzy and co. waited. He took my paw again and proceeded to the next person in line: a man in a white coat, standing next to a gate.  
  
 _"Go,"_ he said in the same plain manner. I looked at the gate in front of me. From what I know now, it must've been one of those scanners that detects broken bones, viruses, imbalances in your body, and anything else you can think of that might need treating. He must've been there to report it in case there was anything wrong with me. Since I had already been rubbed down by a total stranger, I didn't fear much worse, so I took a deep breath and walked through. It beeped once. Azzy joined me not long after, saying everything was clear and that there was nothing to worry about. Again, not much consolation, but an A for effort, I suppose. So he took my paw one more time and walked me over to the last person in line: another woman in a white coat, except she had equipment around her neck, probably a stethoscope or whatever you call it. She gestured to a seat low enough for me to sit on. I looked to Azzy.  
  
"What does she want now?"  
  
"Well." Azzy put another paw around me and rubbed my back. "She'll be here to give you some vaccines, to protect yourself from any diseases that might come go around. This means she’ll have to give you some shots from a needle. Now listen.” He knelt down on one knee and embraced me. “You need to be extra calm for this. You might be startled at first, but we need to do this to keep you healthy. Do you understand?”  
  
I nodded, but was still unsure. “What is it anyway?”  
  
He glanced at the human, and on queue, she drew out something sharp looking that gleamed in the lamplight. My heart sunk.  
  
“Oh,” I said. “No no no, wait, you’re not gonna stick that into me, are you?”  
  
“Alright, alright,” he said, stroking my head, “It’s scary, there’s no sugarcoating that. But we wouldn’t force you to do this if we didn’t believe it’s for your own good. Look.” He stood up and smiled. “Why don’t I demonstrate? It’ll be my first time giving myself up as a lab Rattata. It might be fun.”  
  
He said a few words in human, and the woman drew out another needle and gestured for him to sit with a bemused expression. He sat, stock still, as she injecting something into him. He grunted as she stuck it in, but only for a second or two. It was pretty much over as soon as it started. She applied the plaster over the wound and he leapt to my side.  
  
“See? It’s not so bad! You’ll only feel a pinch like I did, so it’ll be okay! Are you ready?”  
  
I took a deep breath. My heartbeat steadied. After seeing him go through the same thing, the process looked normal, so I knew everything would turn out okay.  
  
At last, I nodded and climbed up to the chair, where the woman held her hand out to me and smiled. I couldn't help but look up, and her eyes were relaxed, but still had an air of caution to it. I laid my paw out. She caressed it, turning it over to inspect it, then she marked the spot where the injection was supposed to be. She held the needle again, and I squirmed in my seat, but her smile reassured me once more. It would only be a few seconds, I told myself. I closed my eyes, letting my guard down for just those few seconds, and true to his word, I did feel a slight pinch. The woman patted me on the back with a gloved hand to let me know it was alright to go, and handed me some candy in a wrapper.  
  
“Thanks!” I said, even if she couldn’t understand me. She just smiled and lowered me to the floor where Azzy waited.  
  
"Alright now?" he said. I just shrugged. It was done, so I wanted to get it out of my head as soon as possible. At least I got a reward out of it.  
  
To this day, needles still suck. I'd rather sit on a Pawniard's head than do that again.  
  
As I sucked on the lemony sweet, Azzy led me to the security door where the Machamp stood, whose four arms took me by surprise. He was clearly a Pokemon, yet he wore a uniform like that of a human, with black security clothing and even shoes. How many Pokemon could you say really need shoes, if any clothes at all? My curiosity got the better of me and I tiptoed to try and get eye contact. He leered at me.  
  
“One of the new subjects, huh?” he said. “Of course, they had to fill their token Riolu quota.”  
  
I had no idea what he was talking about, but one question still burned on my tongue.  
  
“Um, why do you need the four arms? Aren’t two enough?”  
  
“Why do you need just two arms?” he teased in the same tone. A part of me felt insulted, but before I could call him out on it, Azzy groaned.  
  
“Now, now, Henry. We don’t need you winding up our students.”  
  
"Whatever, just messin’.” He turned to the human. _“How many of 'em are left?"_ I couldn't understand Mack still, but whatever he said made Henry raise an eyebrow. Not that Machamp had any.  
  
 _"Huh. They're bringing somethin' like that here?"_  
  
Mack said something that sounded like 'yes'. Machamp shrugged.  
  
 _"Never mind. If there are only a few left, that means I can watch my reruns sooner. Right then."_ He smiled and fiddled with parts of the door before squeezing the handle. "Welcome aboard."  
  
He opened the door, bringing the first flashes of colour into the previously bleak insides of the building. The walls were painted all sorts of colours, green, yellow, you name it, with all sorts of bright patterns adorning them. Both humans and Pokemon walked through the corridors, carrying themselves as if they had important business to take care of. Then, Azzy took my paw and walked me in alongside his human partner. The door closed behind us.  
  
"Well," Azzy said, "This is it. We'll show you around soon enough once you've met everybody."  
  
I cocked my head. "Everybody?"  
  
"Yes. It'll be good to know all the Pokemon you'll be staying with, after all. So, are you ready?"  
  
Butterfree swarmed in my stomach. Truth be told, I wasn't sure if I was ready to meet any more strangers yet. It sounds weird saying that now, considering I barely have a problem with it as a Lucario. Hell, one motto I go by is that a stranger's just a friend you haven't met. Or maybe I stole it from some show. Anyway, considering all I had before then was my family, being dropped in to stay with Pokemon I hadn't met before was new to me. Then, I remembered how desperate I was to get off the island in order to meet new Pokemon, so I took a deep breath and told myself I was excited instead of nervous. I smiled at Azzy.  
  
"Yeah, let's go."  
  
Paw in paw, he led me through the various corridors of the place, each drenched in different colours, until I caught a glimpse of leaf green from behind a glass door. The excitement in my stomach worked itself up to my chest as we walked up. It opened for us, bringing a cool breeze into the stuffy building, and revealed a forest like area with many different trees forming a wall around the room. Well, room wasn't quite the right word. It felt so natural that it didn't feel like one at all. Hell, I couldn't even see the ceiling as that looked like the sky as well. I looked down and true to Azzy's word, there were many Pokemon of different shapes and sizes doing various things in one spot. Some of them mingled with one another. Some swam in shallow ponds. There were also a few that were entirely on their own, one on land, sitting by itself, and one perched on a branch. Azzy patted my shoulder and smiled.  
  
"These are most of the Pokemon you'll get to know. There will be more on the way. After we've got everybody in, we'll show you all around, alright?"  
  
I nodded, and Azzy bowed before turning his back to me and heading towards the corridor.  
  
"Wait!" I called for his attention. "Where're you going?"  
  
"I have to take care of a few things, but I’ll be back soon. Have fun."  
  
With that, he walked away, and I looked to all the new faces, who stared back at me.  
  
Okay, this might get a little confusing, so bear with me. There were a lot of Pokemon there I didn't exactly know the names of at the time, so for now, let's call them by their species names. I know Shine probably briefed you on who they were, but this is gonna be a headache for you if I rattle off everybody's life story one by one. We cool?  
  
Anyway, the group of new Pokemon stared in silence. The forest-like area was strangely silent, only interrupted by the lone Starly that occasionally chirped from atop of the tree. Even the two Pokemon that swam, Buizel and Bidoof, rested their chins on the bank to look at me. I wasn't sure how to break the ice myself, that tingling sensation churning my stomach. Then, mercifully, the Lickitung stepped forward.  
  
"So you're our new arrival, huh?" he said, and gave me his paw. "It's nice to meet you. I'm a Lickitung, although you can call me Basil."  
  
Thankful to see another friendly face, I smiled and gave my paw to him as well. A moment passed. Then he gently took the other paw and shook ours together.  
  
"You're usually supposed to shake it in return." Some of the other Pokemon chuckled in the background. I would've flushed red if I could.  
  
"Sorry. I can't say I have a name either."  
  
"It's no biggie," he said, "I'm sure we'll come up with one together at some point. Now, I'm sure everybody would like to get to know you, so why don't you tell us how you got here?"  
  
"What, now?" I said.  
  
"If you wouldn't mind."  
  
Clearly, he had more experience than I did when it came to these situations. I glanced at the other Pokemon for a bit, who waited with anticipation. I didn't know if I should've told them what I was doing there, but I figured I had little else to do, so I might as well have embraced the moment. So I started telling them about my upbringing, to which, Buizel splashed around excitedly in the pond, to the Bidoof's annoyance.  
  
"Ooh, you lived on an island? Coooool!"  
  
"Not really," I said, "It was kinda boring."  
  
"How?" He cocked his head. "You had the sea all around you!"  
  
I just shrugged and continued, getting to the point where I almost drowned and met Azzy.  
  
"That was foolish, swimming to your doom," the Abra said, "Was it not?"  
  
Before I had any sort of reaction, Basil held his paw up. "Now, now, let's keep it friendly, alright?"  
  
Abra flicked a claw at him like the fopp he was. I have a lot of interesting stuff to say about him later, let’s put it that way.  
  
Anyway, I continued, up until the point Mom released me from the Pokeball Dad trapped me in and let me come here.  
  
"Aw," Ponyta said, "Your Mom must've really cared for you."  
  
"Well," I said, rubbing my head, "Yeah. Wouldn't yours?"  
  
Ponyta shook her head. "I lost mine."  
  
Those words hit me like a kick to the nads. Not that I have any, but still, what do you say to something like that? I know now that not all of us, if not most of us Pokemon didn't have the same lucky upbringing as I did, but back then, it was new to me. I wrung my paws together, trying to find something to say to reassure her. All that came out though was a simple "Oh." She didn't reply back.  
  
"Smooth," Sneasel said. This time, Basil extended his large tongue and licked him across the face. “Ugh, gross!”  
  
"Anyway,” Basil said, “I'm sure you'll understand that everyone came here due to all sorts of circumstances. Don't feel bad because yours is different from theirs."  
  
I just nodded. I didn't really feel like talking much after that, so I sat down and stared at my feet. My chest felt hollow. Back home, I could've teased the hell out of my brothers with ease, but here, I was pretty much at the mercy of everyone else. Some seemed to have it worse than others, like Sneasel, who had several scars across his body, so I didn't want to imagine what he could've done to me if I pissed him off, especially with those claws of his. My gaze wandered off to the rest of the room, where I saw another Pokemon sitting by itself, staring off into space away from the rest of the group. They were about as small as me, except they had a smoother body. Since Basil was so welcoming to me before, I figured I'd go up to the lonely Pokemon to give them a helping hand too. I gingerly padded over to them, making sure not to alert them, and stood behind their back.  
  
"Hey," I said, "You alright?"  
  
They slowly turned to me. I smiled, only for it to turn upside down when I actually saw his face. I might as well say it was a he since I knew him later. His eyes stared through me, looking so wide, I swore they were about to pop out. Something about his stare in particular could've turned you to stone, probably literally. It was like he had some sort of curse. I caught a glimpse of the various purple splotches around his face before he turned his head back to the scenery.  
  
My heart raced. I took a few paces back, only to run back to the gang and hug Basil, as I had no one else to latch onto.  
  
"Hey there," he said, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Wha-what the heck's with that guy?"  
  
"Oh." Basil frowned. "I would just leave him be for now. I can tell he's been through a lot."  
  
"He creeps me out," Sneasel said, "There’s some psycho _****_ going on, or something like that."  
  
Basil leered at him at the mention of that word. I didn’t know what it meant yet, but he said it in human. Ignoring that, I glanced at the creature again. "What is he, anyway?"  
  
Well," Basil said, "He's known as a Cubone. His type usually wears the skulls of their mothers on their head."  
  
"What?" I said, practically white with shock. "Wha-why would they do that, that's so messed up! If someone wore the skull of Mama like that, I’d be scared to death!"  
  
"Well, it’s not every mon’s cup of tea, but they usually do it as a memento of those who've passed on." He turned his head to the maskless Cubone from far away. "Why he doesn't have it is a mystery to us."  
  
"Let's leave it that way," Sneasel said, "He probably pushed that broad down a cliff or some _****_."  
  
“Now, now,” Basil said severely, “That’s not a nice word to say. You want to set an example with the humans, don’t you?”  
  
“Shaddup,” he said, picking at his ears with a claw, “You’re not my da—”  
  
Cubone rushed in out of the blue and tackled Sneasel, bashing him over the head with a mini Bone Club. Basil tried to push him away to no avail, while the rest, me included, stared on.  
  
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Sneasel screamed. “I take it back! Just stop! Please!”  
  
The Cubone stopped attacking, and he went back to his own spot as if nothing happened. Sneasel was left nursing a few bumps on his head, sulking on the floor. And I just stood there, not knowing what the hell to do. It was my first time seeing a proper fight off the island. Well, as proper as one sided blows to the head could be, but still.  
  
“Are you alright?” Basil said, offering him a paw. Sneasel just backed away to a tree and stewed in his own self-pity.  
  
We didn’t say much and decided to drop the issue, so that gave me time to calm my nerves. I even swam in the pond alongside the two other Pokemon, which felt nice and shallow. Not as cold as the ocean was, if anything, it felt warm. Kind of like it was heated from underneath. Anyway, the next two to come were a Happiny and an Aipom, who Basil babysat as well, although they weren't as receptive to tell their stories as I was. They got on well besides that, and it didn't take long for them to settle in and play with each other. I just watched from the pond, still not feeling accustomed to Pokemon etiquette yet, if that was even a thing. Then lastly, a Shinx came along as well.  
  
This is where you come into the picture, Shine. You know, it's kind of funny looking back at it now. I didn't know you as well as I do now, but my first impression of you wasn't that great to begin with. No offense.  
  
 **(None taken.)**  
  
Anyway, I saw you limping your way to Basil, and when he tried to introduce himself to you, you started sobbing and sat in a spot on your own far from everybody else. I don't blame you for how you acted back then, as I'll talk about that at some point later, but when I saw you, crying out of the blue, it kind of reminded me of Stumpy and how he would start wailing sometimes. Part of me felt annoyed, like I usually was around him whenever he had an outburst, but another part of me wanted to come towards you and hold you.  
  
I was stuck between two boulders of thought and didn't know how to squeeze out, so I just sat and looked at you. You curled up into a ball and bathed in what seemed to be the sunlight. I swore I could've seen you glowing. Nevertheless, I watched until the other mediators came in, all sorts of evolved Pokemon, as well as Azzy, who gestured me to follow him. All of the Pokemon in the room flocked to their own mediators, even the solitary Pokemon like you, the Starly the Sneasel and that Cubone. Then they led us out of the room in single file, with Azzy taking my paw in his.  
  
"Are we on tour now?" I asked.  
  
"Yes, we'll walk you through most of the areas on this floor, and after we've had our meeting, we'll call it a day."  
  
I followed the rest in a line as we were led through the various parts of the facility. Firstly, there were the classrooms, which we only got a small peek of since we wouldn't be needing to use them yet. I guess instead of the usual set up in human schools where you had desks and chairs to sit on, we had bean bags and cute little tables to sit around. It looked more like a place you'd sit all your stuffed toys for a tea party than somewhere you'd learn a bunch of useless trivia. Then there was the gym, filled with all sorts of equipment I didn't know the purpose of. The Machop in our group must've known what they were about since he was jumping for joy in that room. The library was off limits, which the Abra complained about, but nothing else came from that.  
  
I might as well skim through the rest as it was a lot to take in at once. The Lounge Room, Infirmary, Kitchen and Bathroom was next. You can probably guess what their purposes were. Then there were the offices, which again, were off limits. That's probably gonna sound quite redundant soon. And finally, there was the meeting hall, opened with a set of double doors unlike the rest. You know something's important when it has two doors instead of one, for whatever reason.  
  
We were led in one line to our seats on one side of the room while the other was occupied. There were these humans in white coats, who looked at us with wide eyed interest. I felt my heart beating again, as their eyes tracked us all the way to our seats. I tried to ignore them, staring at the front while we waited. Everybody else around me chatted amongst themselves. Once everybody settled in, Azzy sat beside me while the Shinx was in front, looking left to right. His mediator, an Manectric, nuzzled close to him, keeping him occupied. A part of me still wanted to reach out to him, but I decided against it. Everyone went silent as one member of staff spoke into the microphone, another mediator by his side.  
  
"Everyone, may I have your attention please," he said, which I heard through the mediator's Pokemon tongue. "We'd like to thank you all for coming to this facility, man, woman and Pokemon alike, and we hope all of you will make the most of your time here. But I'll let the leader speak for himself, so may I present to you, our Director, Lawrence Cartwright, and Assistant Director, Lucy Labelle."  
  
The two speakers stepped aside and held out a hand to the right of the stage. An old man propped himself up on his cane, walking slowly, but with determination in his gait. A Gardevoir floated closely behind him, strangely enough, wearing a frilled dress that flowed behind her. You know, for a Pokemon, she totally owned that look. I couldn't even imagine myself in a dress, let alone want to wear one.  
  
The director's shoes clattered with each step he took on the hard floor, echoing throughout the room. Then, he stood up on top of the podium, his Gardevoir by his side, and a smile emerged from his wrinkled face.  
  
"Humans and Pokemon alike," they spoke in their respective tongues, in perfect unison, "Welcome to our project, Gestalt Learning. We have brought you all here to take part in this experiment to contribute to a better society." The two of them held their hands up, as if shaping the whole world under their palms. "Imagine it. Human and Pokemon in league with one another. To perform the same tasks as one another. To change the world with one another. To create a better future with one another. We see so much potential with both of you, and sadly, we see that this potential is not being used." Their arms drooped, and they clasped their hands together.  
  
"For far too long, the trainer system has trapped everyone in this rusting machine that only spins to create wealth for the rich at the expense of everyone else. Trainers go out into the expanding world at an early age only to pursue a hollow dream of gaining a fake Championship title left from the ashes of the Elite Four. Pokemon are bound to these trainers for no other reason other than sustenance and a purpose in life. It could be so much different. Pokemon and humans can truly learn to co-exist with one another, if enough time is spent on their education. That is why all of you are here."  
  
They pointed at all of us in the room.  
  
"All of you, humans and Pokemon are full of life and brimming with hope. You will all work with each other as equals, not as master and servant. For you humans, we will ensure you'll work closely with these Pokemon, and reward you dearly for your contributions to the future. You will be renowned all around in your respective fields of science. As for you Pokemon, we will accompany you every step of the way to make sure your talents are cultivated here. You will be able to achieve anything you set your mind to, and after your leave, you'll be able to put those skills into practice to travel the world, build a career, become famous, and anything else you will yourself to do. The choice is yours."  
  
They put their arms down and joined hands. "For the next five years, we will do everything in our power to ensure your studies are fruitful. You will follow a program that caters to your needs, as well as help you to make the most of your time here. As we are Gestalt Learning, we believe every part plays a fundamental role to your education. For now, however, we shall pass on the torch to our Class Coordinators." They bowed. The humans on the other side were the first to clap, Although I didn't know what use it did, I clapped along anyway, as the Pokemon they were able to did so, while the rest howled in the air.  
  
Really, they could've said anything and I could've believed it. If they said it was possible to shoot rockets out of our arses, we probably would've tried to do it. Even though I didn't understand what half those words meant at the time, since we all know you're smarter by default if you use big words in place of simpler ones, there was something about the way they said them as well as their tones of voice that sold me on it. After all, I made the choice to go there, and I didn't regret it. For the most part.  
  
Lucy, the Gardevoir helped the director leave the stage while another human/Pokemon duo entered. They didn't say a lot that was too important to rattle off at the top of my head, but basically, they ran down how the 5 years would be divided up into several syllabuses: a mix of learning the same skills human children would be taught, including how to speak which was my main focus, and fighting, which would teach us how to defend ourselves as well as work with trainers if we chose to. Of course, there was the boring stuff like all the rules they went through. With each word uttered, my head bobbed up and down, struggling to keep my eyes open. They sure took their sweet time on pointless crap. Something squeezed my sides, jolting me awake.  
  
"What the--"  
  
The Aipom snickered from behind, who covered his mouth with his tail in an attempt to muffle his laughter.  
  
"Hey," I whispered, "Keep your paws to yourself."  
  
"Couldn't help it, sorry," he said, then narrowed his eyes. "Still, he doesn't shut up, does he?"  
  
I shook my head. Although I didn't agree with his grabby nature, we found something else to share between us. He grinned and held out his paw-like tail to me.  
  
"You seem cool. We can be friends, right?"  
  
Other than Basil, he was the only Pokemon that gave me such a gesture that day, so I smiled back to him and offered a paw in return. He snatched it away.  
  
“Psyche! Too slow!”  
  
I just shrugged and turned back to the guy's lecture. Something told me I had to get used to his antics.  
  
Thankfully, the guy shut his trap and we were told to gather up into three groups of six. We would stay each other for the rest of our course there. There were those who came from trainers or lived in domestic areas. There were those who were born in GeL. And then, there was us, the wild urchins. There was me, the Ponyta, the Cubone, the Buizel, and the Aipom. Except someone was missing. When we were sorted, I asked one of the mediators why there were only five of us, only to be told the other member wasn't ready yet. You'll find out about that later.  
  
After that, Azzy picked me up and we exited the hall in one neat line, going back to the cafeteria to be greeted with many different bowls and plates of food. Sandwiches, berries, meat pellets, you name it. I drooled, as the rest probably did, and if you know anything about how Pokemon eat, provided you haven't been living beneath a bridge for all of your life, it was chaos in there. By the end of it, in the mess we made, we had eaten our fill, and were set to fall into a food coma not long after. After we were all done, we were led into the corridors again only to be broken off into our respective groups. Us wild Pokemon would be staying in the same garden we met everybody else in.  
  
When we got there, the ceiling was black instead of blue, filled with twinkling stars and a rind of a moon. Our mediators wished us good night and each of us found a spot to sleep in. I myself gathered a pile of leaves and curled up into it. I slowly drifted away, sure to fall into slumber. Then I found myself on the island again, listening to one of Mom's stories with the rest. Trunks was there, listening intently. Stumpy was there, curling up against a tree. Twig was there, chewing on a twig. Figures. And Dad was probably somewhere hidden, listening in private. After her story was over, I went over to hug Mom, only to touch the air. I found myself in the garden again with a bunch of strangers. So that was how the first day ended.  
  


\---

_You should've seen my cursive back then, every letter was above the line.  
My Ps and Qs raised their stems, so nothing crossed beneath.  
I'm a little better now._

_You galvanistic young boy, You galvanistic young man  
You galvanistic young inhuman, You understand._

_Art gets what it wants and art gets what it deserves._

**_Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Inhumans_ **

**The Growth Arc**


	19. First Fight or Flight

**(So, when you started your schedule, what were the first few lessons like? Did you find an early interest in learning human speech?)**

Well, how interesting do you think it is to listen to some blue rabbit repeating the alphabet several times over, then making you do the same thing? Not very. A lot of it was just going into the basic mechanics of pronunciation. How do you make that into a story? Wouldn’t this bomb if this was a film?

_**(Yes, but what about the mechanics of Pokemon speech, and how do they relate to you learning about human speech? This would help us understand your difficulties.)** _

Oh, so you want to get technical, huh? Well, I can’t really say I’m the best Mon for that sort of thing. Shine is a better teacher than me in that sense. But I can offer my input here, plus what I learned from them.

When you first speak, as a Pokemon, you don’t really think about the sounds you’re making. Our roars and cries may seem like gibberish to your untrained ears, no offence, but those same roars and cries have many different variations, and with that, many different words and meanings. My best bet is there are over 1,000 ways to roar as a Lucario, each having their own set of meanings. ‘Reror’ might mean something like ‘hello’, while ‘rorora’ might mean something like ‘go away’. If we had more time, I would go through each 1,000 plus of those roars with you, one by one.

Just kidding. But seriously, if you were to go through every little sound change and figure out what they all meant, you’d sooner gouge your ears with an icepick. Then again, some people, let’s call them linguists, get off to that sort of thing, so anything is possible. That’s why it’s so hard to try and explain it, because it ain’t something you can fully pick apart, it’s something you feel. Just like learning in your language. You start babbling as a baby and then you work your way up to sounding less drunk the older you get as you begin to understand what the adults around you are actually saying. It all comes with experience. The more complex the meaning of the sentence, the more words you start to string along. Unfortunately for us, our speech sounds garbled as each sound that conveys meaning is bunched up together, like atoms in a cell, or some other sciencey crap like that. That’s not something you can translate to human so easily, if at all. Itwouldbelikeifitalkedlikethisallthetime. See what I mean?

But in any case, the first lessons in speech just covered the basic crap, like sounds and whatnot. All 17 of us were sat around a classroom, huddled close together, while the human students took notes at the back. I tried not to notice them too much, since whenever I turned towards them, they would look the other way, face buried in their notebook. Azzy, formally known as the Language Specialist, held a piece of chalk in front of a board. Whenever he wrote, it often squeaked, making my ears twitch.

For each sound Azzy broke down, he wrote its letter on the chalkboard, starting with ‘a’, or ‘ae’ as it sounds, and made us repeat it. When he wrote down the first letter, I raised my paw.

“What’s that?”

“Oh,” Azzy said, “This is the letter ‘a’, or ‘ah’, as we pronounce it here.”

“What’s a letter?” A few chuckles came around me. Most noticeably, Abra burst into laughter, bashing his fist against the floor.

Right now, this probably sounds really stupid, even coming from me. Another thing you have to understand though is that sounds are one thing, but symbols are another. There’s this one guy with this name I can’t pronounce, who had this picture of a Leppa berry with text at the beginning saying ‘This is not a Leppa’. When you first look at it, you wonder what the heck the guy was smoking when he made it, but when you look at it closely, you realise that it’s in fact, not a berry, it’s a picture of a berry. Two completely different things, but easily confused for each other as the meaning is concrete. You can eat berries, after all. When you try to pair a sound with this abstract symbol, though, at first, you can’t see the meaning in that symbol. As such, it just looks like a random squiggle. Not exactly something you can sink your teeth into and taste.

“You fool,” Abra said, “You don’t even have a clue on what a letter is!”

In response, Azzy threw his piece of chalk at Abra. It bounced off him with a great thwacking sound, which I cringed at. Even I felt it when Abra nursed at his head.

“That’s one thing I won’t have in this class. Remember everyone’s experience levels are different. Just because it seems natural for you doesn’t mean everybody thinks the same way, got it?”

Abra rubbed his yellow dome and sighed.

“Yes, sir.”

“Right. That’s actually a good question, young Riolu. Now...”

He explained what those letters and symbols were, going off on a tangent for a bit. I noticed Abra was levitating, while Aipom harassed the Buneary by pulling on her ears playfully. The others seemed to take a passive interest though, leaning closer to listen. When that was over, I just nodded, not wanting to show my ignorance as I still couldn’t put two and two together. At least, not in front of that yellow bastard again.

**(So, what other lessons did you have?)**

Oh, well, quite a few actually. We had our paws full with activities from that day forward, basically.

For starters, there were the gym sessions we had, which involved a set of physical exercises to do for a certain period of time, like working on running and endurance in one day, then stretches and aerobics the next. As you can imagine, it doesn't translate that well to the Pokemon who couldn't stand on their hind legs, so I got a kick out of seeing the Bidoof fall on his ass, amongst other things.

Those sessions were led by a Medicham called Reggie, who clearly looked too enthusiastic for what he was doing. Each time he told us to do a rep of push ups or whatever was the equivalent for the non-bipedal Pokemon, his voice echoed in the closed off gym space and he'd pump his fists in the air all the time. It wasn't my style, honestly, cause it seemed like he was performing something like a magic show for an audience who stared at their phones the entire time, but at least the Machop was into it.

He'd also cheer us on, saying we did a great job whenever we got through one of the reps, although he ignored some of the other Pokemon, like the Shinx who stayed tucked away in the corner of the room, without fail, for every session. Occasionally, Reggie interrupted his lesson to try and convince him to come along, but that didn't seem to work. Whenever that happened, the rest of the Pokemon would huddle around me and stare at the scene.

"What's he doing?" Sneasel said.

"Hmph," the skull-less Cubone huffed, the first syllable I heard from him so far, "How weak."

"Aw, c'mon," the Pachirisu said, standing up while he combed his tail, "He's been like this for like forever. He's just scared, that's all."

"Oh yeah?" Sneasel said, raising a claw to him, "What's there to be scared of in this place?"

"I dunno," Pachirisu said, his tail drooping, "But maybe he'll come ‘round later and tell me."

After a while, the Medicham just gave up and ran back to us, preparing to give us another jazzercise session or whatever they called it. That's when Aipom waved his tail in the air.

"Whazzup?" Reggie said. If he fit the bill of anyone resembling a human, he probably would’ve been the beach bum that does a lot of illicit deals in his minivan. Don’t ask me how I know that.

"Um, I like these lessons, teach," Aipom said, "But when are we gonna learn to fight? Wouldn't that be good for exercise?"

Honestly, I didn't question that until he brought it up, but from my position, I never needed to fight for my own life. Though I didn't know what everybody's pasts were, since he was part of our wild brat pack, I guessed he must've had a few scrapes in his life so far. Reggie just smiled.

"It’s cool, dude. When everyone’s fallen into one groove, then we can start fighting, you dig?"

Aipom jumped up and down, enthusiastic, but not trying to cause a scene. "B-But can't we just do one teensy fight? I feel like I wanna prove myself already!"

The Medicham stroked his pink head. "Well, it might not be on the schedule, but I don't see the big deal behind it. Who do you want to pick as a partner, though?"

"You, duh!" he said, pointing his tail at the confused teacher.

"Woah there, I like your zest, dude, but that’s a little too spicy for me. Why not someone your own size?"

"Aw." I detected a drop of energy in his aura, but he turned around and grinned at us regardless, waving his tail from side to side as he decided who to pick in the circle.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh," Buizel said, "Pick me!"

"Yeah, in your dreams," Sneasel said, "Whaddya gonna do, bubble him to death?"

"I'm always open," Basil the Lickitung said, "It's not a big deal for me."

"Nah," Aipom said, "I know you're quite good already, plus that tongue kinda gives me bad vibes. How about I pick..."

He stopped and pointed his tail at myself, keeping it raised for a few seconds before dumb little me got the hint.

"Me? Why?"

"No reason. Well, I kinda heard you didn't do a lotta fighting on that island, so you're gonna be easy for me."

For whatever reason, I felt a tinge of anger build up inside me. "Um, okay?"

"Cool, it’s settled!" Reggie said, and told everyone to clear out the way for us two to battle.

So, I kind of ended up getting in a fight by accident. I don't know how it happened, but it was the first time I ever fought another Pokemon. That means teach droned on, going on about the official match rules: one attack each turn, first one to faint loses, last one standing wins, yadda yadda yadda. In hindsight, I guess it was like a tutorial level in a role playing game, or something, like that series on the handheld thing. You know what I mean, don't you, Tony?

**(Not really.)**

What, did you never play that game before?

**(No, I played outside for most of my childhood. Now I mostly play in an office cubicle.)**

Okay then, sucks to be you, I guess. I only went through a phase of it myself when I stole some random guy's DS that one time. I don't really like it since my paws aren't used to that sort of thing, but it's like having your first encounter with some random Pokemon terrorising the professor in the tall grass, and having to teach your own Pokemon how to fight for the first time.

So the stage was set for us two. Aipom bounced on the balls of his feet while I stood still, not really sure how to initiate the fight.

"Go, Aipom!" Buizel said. "Go! Go!"

"Whatever," Sneasel said, "My money's on this minx."

"What's money?"

"Forget it."

He sprang forward first, paws splayed out preparing to scratch. I gasped and rolled to the side, dodging. He followed, however, and I bounced backwards, avoiding each swipe. I dodged and rolled, but he kept coming at me, unrelenting. My heart pounded. If I didn't make a move then, that probably would've been it. I sensed an opening below where his legs stood unprotected, and swiped down with a kick. It connected, knocking him flat on his tail-end. A mix of cheers followed. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that. It was like I was at the centre of the stage, and the rest of the spectating Pokemon were my fans. Yeah, sounds awfully conceited, I know.

"C'mon, idiot!" Sneasel said, "Kick 'im while he's down!"

"Not cool, dude!" Reggie said. "This fight must be fair, you dig? Wait for him to get up!"

"Shaddup!" he said, "What sense does that make? She’d be dead if this was a real battle, you _dumbass!_ "

"H-hey, don’t talk to me like that!"

I watched as the two bickered, which went on long enough to distract me from the fight. When I tried to move my leg next, it wouldn’t budge. The Aipom's tail wrapped around my paw, and swung upward. The world around me turned upside down. My arms desperately flailed in the air in an attempt to get ahold of my surroundings. I don't know how far I was off the ground, but I braced myself, preparing for the worst.

Call it divine intervention or whatever other crap, but when I hit the ground, I rolled forward and broke my fall. The closest thing I can think of that could've explained it were my instincts from falling off the treetops on the island a certain amount of times. I'd call it cat-like reflexes if I were close to being a cat-type, so I'll settle for Riolu-like reflexes for now.

More cheers followed. With each time that happened, I got more and more into a groove. I sprang back to my feet and focused on the Aipom, who looked confused, but nevertheless guarded for the next attack. Running forward, I tried to look for an opening wherever Aipom was unprotected. His tail acted as a shield for the rest of his body, with his paws raised in front of him for extra protection. The only thing that wasn't covered, however, was his face, so you can imagine I went to town on that. I made a fist with my paws, swiped forward, and bam. There it was. Fighting move against normal type.

My punch made a satisfying slapping sound which echoed in the air, before Aipom crashed backwards and rolled over a couple of times before stopping. More cheers. I pumped my fist in the air, having my little moment of triumph before I saw what happened to his face. Red all over, basically, like he got splattered with a Tomate. I immediately rushed to his side, shaking him gently, feeling a chill wash over me.

"Oh jeez!" I said, "Uh, Aipom guy, can you hear me. Hello? Hello!"

A paw tapped on my shoulder, belonging to Reggie, who looked down and gazed at the scene like he was looking at a piece of bread that popped out of the toaster. If that analogy makes sense.

"Well, I say you got him. Cool."

"Cool?" I said, shaking Aipom's body, "I just killed him, there's nothing cool about this! Please get help, help!"

The onlookers just laughed, to which, I stood up and pointed at all of them.

"You're all sick! You just watched me kill another Pokemon and you're all laughing! Don't just stand there, help me! Help!"

Yeah, I might’ve been a bit of a drama queen. Of course, Aipom was still breathing, so I overreacted again. It took me a few seconds before I saw his chest puff up and down, and laid close to him, looking for any sign I didn't hurt him too bad.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to--"

"Fine," he croaked, trying to push me away. "Just let me rest. Please."

I breathed a sigh of relief, and managed to calm down before I heard the other Pokemon talking amongst themselves.

"What's she thinking?" Sneasel said, "Was she dropped as an egg or something?"

"The fool," Abra said, "She clearly hasn't been in many fights."

"She did a good job," Ponyta said, "Isn't that enough?"

To my mercy, Reggie stepped in and stopped them, calling off the lesson early and letting everybody else leave aside from me, including Aipom who was lifted to safety, where I had to stay behind. The pink clown-looking guy knelt to my level and put his paws on my shoulders. In that gaze of his, I saw the same benevolent gaze Trunks used to give me whenever he gave one of his pep talks.

"Hey girl," he said, "I get it, you’re not used to this."

"I don't understand," I said, nearly whispering, "Why did he make me fight him? Why does anyone have to fight anyone?"

"Why does anyone do anything? Just cuz, I guess. I get he wanted to prove himself though, so there’s your reason."

"But his face! You must've seen how badly I messed that up. What's gonna happen to him? What if I get in trouble for it?"

"Us Pokemon heal quickly, you dig?”

"But why though? I know it happens a lot in the wild and stuff, but I heard a bit about trainers and how we're taught to fight for them. What's the point in that?"

The Medicham hummed to himself, looking for the right answer, when he shrugged and shot me a smirk.

“I dunno, I don’t think about that stuff anymore. It’s kinda pointless. Once you’ve fought enough times though, and learn more about the world, you can figure out that answer yourself. Until then, just be chilled. You have us watching your back to stop your from seriously hurting anyone, plus you’ve got restraint, so you’re way ahead a lot of Pokemon already. You get me?”

I looked to the side at the splotch of blood on the floor. As much as it was painful dealing that sort of damage on another Pokemon, it could've easily been me as well, plus at that point, I trusted teach enough to take stock in his words. Finally, I nodded, and he gave me a pat on the back.

"Cool. I’d get back to that blue guy now."

I smiled once more before leaving the gym with Azzy. The day kind of veered off from there. I returned to our garden base and rested for a bit, gazing at what I thought was the sunlight. It definitely felt real anyway, as the rays gently shined on my face. Everyone else was there aside from Aipom, who I presumed was healing up somewhere else. It was like being back home. Almost. Then, something blocked my view, and I opened one eye to see the skull-less Cubone, which made me flinch.

"Hello," he said in a deep voice.

"Um, hi?" I said.

"I watched your fight." He stopped to bow towards me. "I admire your strength."

"Well, thanks?" I guess it was flattering to hear that, but it rang hollow for me, since it came across like he thanked me just for breathing.

"You can spar with me later. That way, you will know true strength. Goodbye."

He wandered off to his usual spot where he gazed at the wall, and I just returned to my nap, ignoring the foreboding aura that came off from him. A few hours must've passed since the sky turned a dark orange, and at last, Aipom came in, looking as soft as the day he came in. When he caught my gaze, he leered at me before jumping atop a tree to sulk. His aura radiated sadness and frustration, and it wasn't hard to see why. I beat him purely by chance, and getting the stuffing beat out of you by an inexperienced runt like me mustn't have been nice. A part of me knew approaching him at this point probably wouldn't end well, but again, Combee's nest.

I rose and dug my paws into the tree bark, climbing to the top not long after. Truth be told, it was a little anti-climatic, as I was used to the trees being so tall back home, but whatever. I perched onto a branch beside him and waited for him to notice me. A moment passed and nothing happened. You could've cut the tension in that room with a claw. When it became apparent he wasn't in the mood to talk, I made the first move.

"Um, hi again. I'm sorry about earlier."

He looked once with a sorrowful expression, like that of a kicked Lillipup, and turned back to the scenery.

"It was my first fight, I wasn't really expecting to win. It just sorta happened. That punch looked really painful, though, I didn't mean to go that far."

"Eh," he mumbled, "I've seen worse."

Knowing he was from the wild as well, I put two and two together.

"It must've been really rough out there, in the wild, I mean. It sounds so different from how I was brought up, you know. If you wanna talk to me about that, I'd be interested."

"No you wouldn't," he said. "You'd just think I'm weak, like everybody else does. You proved that today by winning."

"No I don't. And who's everybody else?"

"My parents, for starters." His voice dropped, although he spoke more clearly that time. Anger boomed from his aura. "I can't hold my own in a fight. For that, they thought about leaving me to die all the time until these guys came along, then they just offered me up to them. Didn't say goodbye. Doesn't that just scream weak to you?"

Knowing the rules of nature better now than I did back then, with how unpredictable, harsh and indifferent it can be, I could see why he'd think that. Still, when I heard him talk about himself that way, like the way Trunks did sometimes, I squeezed his paws with mine and leaned in close to the point my muzzle touched his face.

"Who cares?" I said. "I didn't come here knowin' everything, and that's why I left home, so I could learn somethin'. We've got all the time to get stronger, so what's the point of worrying?"

"That Cubone over there." He tilted his head towards the meditating brute, who was too far away to listen in on us. "He looks at me all the time like I just peed all over his berries."

"Ew. Again, who cares? I don't. Just focus on what you wanna do."

"I want to get stronger."

"Fine then. Do that, but, don't compare yourself to others, or me, you got it?"

He hummed to himself, and silence followed as he considered what to say for a moment. It wasn't the awkward silence like before, but a comfortable silence, like the fog cleared up between us. His aura definitely radiated more positive energy anyway. Finally, he turned to me and smiled, shaking my paws, like in the friendly sort of manner Basil drilled me on before.

"Yeah. I get that. I'll try not to think on it too much."

We held paws for a little while. And a while longer. Perhaps a little too long. I shook them gently, trying to get out of his grasp, when he grinned widely and shoved at my chest. I went flying off the tree and fell to the floor, tail first. He scurried down soon after and pointed his tail at me.

"Haha!" he chuckled. "Now we're even!"

In any other situation, I would've seen malice in it, but I laughed along with him, as I sensed that playful energy, and he helped me up. From there, we started talking about little details of our own pasts, from the sort of Pokemon he met that occasionally gave him solace from his parents, to the sort of pranks he’d play on his siblings, like luring them into a hole in the ground covered with leaves. He got something slung at him as payback; I needn’t mention what. I laughed and cringed at the same time. I didn’t talk much about myself; I just listened and commented along with him. When it came time to go for dinner in the cafeteria, we ate together. When we settled down for the night in that same room, we nuzzled close to each other, feeling each other's warmth and just enjoying our company. He was the first real friend I had there, and he was a cool guy all throughout.

Still, my ass was a bit sore from that fall, but you win some, you lose some.

The week pretty much flew by as we had our basic lessons for one portion of the day and exercise in the other. Time didn't really exist there, since even with the garden there, it was pretty much a vacuum in the rest of facility, and not having an actual concept of time at the, um, time, didn't help matters. Having Aipom there to talk to and sometimes cause mischief with made the days pass much quicker. It wasn't a far cry from the times when Stumpy and I used to explore the island together, although he had less of a tendency to cry and moan whenever things didn't go his way. So it was fairly busy for that period, and when we had our day off at the end of it, we were playing in the garden together when another mediator came in holding some sort of device. Without a word, they handed it over and told me to put it to my ear. I waited until I heard a familiar voice from the other side.

"Hello, miss Riolu!" It was Azzy.

"Oh, hi! Wait, what're you doing in there? What is this thing anyway? Did you get sucked in?"

"I'm still here. I'm just on a phone, which allows you to talk through long distances. I’m no Rotom, after all."

I paused, trying to figure out what he meant by that, but kept on topic. "Why not talk to me here?"

"Because I have a surprise for you." I heard distant voices from far off, and stood there, wandering what they were until somebody else took over.

"Can you hear me, dearie?"

"Mama!" I jumped for joy. "How are you getting this?"

"This Azumarill visited the island and is with us at the moment. We’re enjoying his company so far. The other kids love him; they keep asking him to blow bubbles their way. But how are you anyway? How have your studies been?"

"Well, we've only started, mama, so nothing too special, but we've learned what letters are and stuff! We'll be learning how to speak soon!"

"That sounds great, dearie. They sound like they've got a lot in store for you already." I heard shouting from the other side, one in a whining tone and one in a much younger tone. "Oh, let me pass you onto your brothers."

"Hey, hey!" Stumpy was on the other side now. "How are things?"

"Good."

"I'm missin' you, you know. It ain't the same having this guy pushin' me on that swing."

"Hiiiiii!" Twig beamed from the other side.

"Hello, sis," Trunks said. "It's been a while, so it's nice to be with you again."

"Yeah, of course!"

"Have you done any more drawing lately?"

"Um, I dunno." All of that slipped my mind. During my time there so far, I didn't even think about holding a crayon again, since everything else went so fast, but when Trunks brought it up, I found a part of myself yearning to make a mess on the sketchpad again. I hadn't even mentioned it to anyone else yet.

"Well, I'm sure they've kept you busy so far with other things, but still, keep going at it. I don't want to see you drop it so soon."

"Sure thing, bro."

A beat. I half expected Dad, or rather, Liam to be on the other side as well, but no matter how long I listened, I couldn't feel his presence there.

"Where's, um, Dad?"

"Oh." Trunks' tone dropped severely. I could tell what he was thinking even through the disembodied voice. "I'll let Mom answer that."

He said something too far off for me to hear, then I heard Mom's voice again.

"Alright then," she said. "Things between me and Liam aren't great. We've been apart for quite some time now. We didn't want to see each other, so we split the island in half, so he has his side and my side. We agreed to share the lake, but we know when not to bother each other."

I remembered the times we had before I left, how Dad would always talk down to us, how he tore up my drawings, and how he basically dragged me by my ears. I didn't forgive him for that yet, but it didn't give me any pleasure to hear about Mom and Dad not being the same. A pang of guilt nestled in my gut.

"The kids are allowed to talk to them whenever they went, but of course, they hang out with me more. Whenever they get the chance to go, he barely talks at all. I worry about him sometimes, but it's for the best."

"That sounds really lonely. Mama, is it my fault?"

"What do you mean?

"That things turned out so bad between you?"

"Don't be silly, dearie. You had nothing to do with it. He’s just a grumpy, bitter Mon, that's all."

Even though my bad experiences with him still lingered on, I longed to hear his voice, just so I could take another piece of my old home back with me.

"Can I talk to him?"

"Well, the Azumarill wanted to help, but he tried to approach Liam, he just threw a bit of his aura at him, so I guess he wants to be left alone for now."

"Oh."

"But never mind that. It's lovely hearing your voice again, dearie. I'd love to talk with you all day, but I guess you'll have your paws full again soon. I hope you've made friends, at least."

"Yeah, of course!" I said, looking to Aipom, who hung lazily off a nearby branch, "We're having a lot of fun already!"

"Great! Are there more Riolu there, or is it just you?"

"Just me."

"I see. Well then, it's been wonderful talking to you, dearie, but I think I'll hand you back to this Azumarill for now. We'll talk again soon enough. Everyone, say goodbye for your sister!"

They all cheered me off to say goodbye, and I did the same, until all sound on the other end cut off completely. The mediator took the phone back, and I was left by myself in the garden grinning like an idiot, at least, until Aipom came along, tilting his head.

"Do you talk to yourself a lot? Ain’t that a sign of madness?"

"What?" I wondered what he meant, until it occurred to me he might not have known what a phone was. I mean, I certainly didn't until it happened. "I spoke to my family. They were so happy to talk to me."

I stared him down for a while as he looked quite glum, when I came up to him and held his paw. "I'm sorry. I know things weren't alright on your end."

He shook his head. "I won't hafta deal with them again. But whatever, if you're happy, then same goes for me. It's nice for you to have a family that cares, anyway."

And so, the week ended with me having a good night's sleep, and going off to dream about me and my family together again. Instead of simply longing for them through a distant past, they were happy memories where I felt closer than ever to them than before. I couldn't quite remember each of their faces, but their voices were enough for me to get the picture. I must've slept like a baby, at least until we had to wake up early again to face another day.


	20. Showtime, In More Ways than One

**(So, when did you start properly learning to speak the human tongue?)**  
  
Actually, we made a bit of progress on it not long after the first week ended. That was around the time we started to learn to fight as well, and learn other things such as how to tell the time and how to add numbers up together, although I kind of bombed at both of them at first. It's quite a lot to talk about at once though, so what do you wanna know?  
  
**(The speaking lessons, please.)**  
  
Alright then, more of that. I mean, we basically touched on more of what I talked about before, like how human sounds are different in meaning to what we say in our own language. The week before with Azzy was just finding out what all the possible sounds were and how to connect them to letters. After a while, I learned how to connect the two together, but when Azzy started his next round of lessons, he started talking about words. He'd write them out on that cringe-inducing chalkboard again, would break down each of the sounds used in it, and tell us to repeat it.  
  
I had a bit of trouble with that at first, since words felt like a mouthful compared to the single sounds I was used to doing, but take my word for it, I got better. I don’t care to go through it in huge length since Shine could probably do that. I think I’d just bore myself to tears talking about it too much.  
  
One thing that really helped though, believe it or not, was watching the actual Pokemon show, which they found a way to tie into our lessons. Aw, this takes me back. I know you never played the games, but did you watch the series, at least?  
  
**(When I was 7, I think. That was when it first started, with Ash in Kanto.)**  
  
Yeah, now you're on my level. So, it's been a while since I've seen it, and now I remember it, it's nothing special. I wouldn't really go out of my way to watch it again. But parts of it are embedded into my brain from when I'd watch those episodes as a Riolu, sitting with Aipom and all that and becoming entranced by that big, black box, which I'd later learn was a TV. I mention this because it served as a way for us to get better at understanding humans, but I should probably set the scene a little.  
  
So, it might've been in the third week or so. I didn't know since again, time didn't exist, but sometimes, Azzy would walk us over to a room with all sorts of electronic devices, or the AV room, and sit us all in comfy beanbags around the TV. A human would operate the remote and flick through several channels before tuning into Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl. Soon enough, I was hooked. I loved the bright colours and I loved the art, except they were moving pictures. When I think about it now, the time it must've taken to do that must've been insane.  
  
I say moving pictures like I'm a caveman or something, but they're what they are. Not to get too nerdy, unlike one Pokemon I know sitting in this room right now, but that's basically what film or animation is, just a series of frames cobbled together, 24 times a second, with voices and music to bind it all into one package. And the music as well. I sat through the opening theme, and even though I couldn't understand it all that well as we weren't used to the human tongue, I found myself humming the tune, as did some of the other Pokemon watching it. Even Shinx paid attention and wasn't sulking in a corner like usual.  
  
But yeah, I think we must've watched the first episode where Dawn, that girl trainer or something, tried to find her way to the professor's lab and ended up bumping into the wrong places. Again, we couldn't understand her fully yet, but we got the gist of what was happening, which was enough. Then Ash came on screen on a boat with the Pikachu, and I was waiting for that yellow sparkster to speak, but he never did. Instead, he repeated his name over and over again, and so, it sounded like complete gibberish. It felt really weird to me at the time, so I raised my hand up when it happened in an attempt to find out why, but the show kept going and wouldn't stop. I gave up after a while, plus the subjects behind me were starting to give weird looks, so I sat through the rest of the episode with my mouth zipped shut.  
  
There were some battles along the way with other Pokemon, which got me excited, and as it ran, I found myself understanding more and more of what they said. Only certain words and phrases since not all of it was familiar, but the phrase we got familiar with was "I choose you!" since it repeated enough to get stuck in my head. But after the big fight, Ash, Pikachu and Dawn eventually banded together, plus that pervy guy as well, but anyway, the episode ended and the credits rolled, so they turned off the TV soon after. We all clapped and asked for more, but that was it for now, and so we were chaperoned back to our bases. I caught Azzy's attention before he left the garden again.  
  
"Yes, miss Riolu. I saw you wanted to ask something during the show."  
  
"Yeah. Pikachu's really weird. And the other Pokemon. They keep saying their names all the time and I can't understand it. Is it just me or something?"  
  
He shook his head.  
  
"It's something the series does. While the human characters are voiced by humans, for whatever reason, the Pokemon are voiced by humans too."  
  
"But why? Wouldn't it be better to have Pokemon talking like Pokemon so we could all understand it?"  
  
He patted his ears, and I noticed through his aura he was quite nervous. I take it he didn't want to answer that.  
  
"Well, the show is aimed for humans for all ages, but you still understood what was going on, didn't you?"  
  
I nodded. "I'm starting to understand humans better now."  
  
"That's good then. Well, have a good day."  
  
He just left, and it was me in that garden again, feeling more questions rise up than I had before. Mostly about why they didn't hire Pokemon to voice their own characters, but I never got the answer to that, but knowing more about the world now, I can guess. There aren't many Pokemon actors, and while you see them in a lot of films shot on camera, for a show like that which is all drawn, it's not needed at all. A lot of shows or movies aren't made for Pokemon in mind, just for humans who actually have time for art and can talk with their wallets, apparently. What money is there to be had in that industry with us dumb Pokemon in there?  
  
**(People did kick up a fuss about the Pokemon not voicing their own roles after enough time. Oh, sorry, can I intervene again?)**  
  
As long as it’s not about Lucario dying because of a tree again.  
  
**(Thanks. Trainers and their Pokemon actors formed a union and started pestering the team for requests, and eventually, they hired Pokemon actors to speak for the Origins and Generations specials, which I guess is a step in the right direction. It added a bit more depth to their character, but of course, the humans couldn’t understand it, so it was lost on them with no subtitle options. Again, sorry for interrupting.)**  
  
No, it's fine. See, this guy knows. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. I could literally talk about it for ages, but I think you get the idea. It was a slow learning process, where we alternated between learning more about how to speak like humans and listen to humans. In time, in a few weeks, we could understand entire sentences, and once we digested that information, we could understand what the humans around us were saying all along. Even though the show didn't fill that void for my own kind, thanks to it, I was able to understand humans fully. Speaking it is another matter, but I didn't have problems with that.  
  
**(You mentioned bombing other lessons. What did you learn?)**  
  
Eh, just maths and basic stuff. Honestly, not all of it is very interesting. If you ever went through grade school, you’d know it’s something along the lines of that, so there’s not much to say. My biggest crime was not paying attention, so there’s that. Before I forget though, after I saw that show, and seeing all the great art off of it, that sort of inspired me to pick up my set of crayons again and draw. So I got my belongings out from the locker and remembered all the characters I saw from it. Humans like Ash were a bit too complicated for me to draw, but Pokemon like Pikachu had simpler shapes, so I sat with my back rested by a tree trunk and ended up drawing that guy, starting with the head and drawing the rest of the body from there.  
  
Again, it wasn't very good, as the first result literally looked like a lump of garbage with eyes, but that didn't stop me, as I drew him again and again, until I got a feel for how to draw him correctly. Since my paws weren't really used to making such tiny movements, the lines all looked wobbly, but at least it resembled something like a living thing. I didn't stop there though, and kept doodling, until I saw Aipom coming into view, poking his head in upside down.  
  
"Whatcha doing?'  
  
I gasped and clutched the sketchpad for protection. A part of my memory flashed back to the time Dad took my drawings away from me, and in response, I hid the paper behind my back.  
  
"N-nothing."  
  
"That's not nothing! I saw what you were drawing!"  
  
"Oh," I said, shrinking up into a little ball, "It sucks, doesn't it?"  
  
"Are you kidding?" he said, and leapt off the tree, "That's awesome! I could never do something like that!"  
  
I sat up a bit, breathing a sigh of relief, and flipped back to the page I last drew on.  
  
"Thanks. I wish I could draw better, though."  
  
"Still looks awesome! I don't know why you'd hide it!"  
  
"Well," I said, "Papa didn't like me drawing. He was kind of a jerk about it."  
  
"I thought you said your family was alright."  
  
"Papa is alright. He just had a lot to deal with. His trainer left him, so he's still kinda upset about that."  
  
"Kind of like my Dad was." He joined me by the tree trunk and sat down, watching me guide the yellow marker to draw another piece de resistance, if you could call it that. "He'd never shut up about it, either, talking about how he won this battle or fought this big Pokemon, and I was always like, just cram it, old man."  
  
"Wish I said that to my own old man.”  
  
"Yeah. Keep doing your thing, though. I like watching you."  
  
So we just hung out together, with Aipom acting as my second pair of eyes while I drew more faces. He wouldn't say much, but I forgot my current troubles with the lessons at that time and felt at ease with him around. It was nice to have someone by your side who wouldn't judge you, although I yearned for someone to correct my mistakes and help improve my craft. At one point, that Cubone passed us by and glanced at our work, before scoffing under his breath.  
  
"What a waste of time."  
  
I stopped to regard him as he sat back down in his spot. Aipom must've noticed me since he looked at me with concern, and he leaned in closer to whisper into my ear.  
  
"He's always judging me and everyone else. Forget about that guy."  
  
Despite that, I kept on going, throwing all sense of time to the wind until the bells chimed again and had our daily meal together. On the way, I locked my sketchbook away again, still wanting it to be my secret, but at least I had someone else to share it with.  
  
I got another call some time after, and honestly, there wasn’t much to say. It was just the usual conversation we had last time, since they were still happy to hear me and Dad was still off somewhere else, but oh well. Then Trunks came into the picture:  
  
“Hello, sis,” he said, “Have you been keeping with your studies recently?”  
  
I gulped. I didn't want to have to tell him I wasn't paying attention in class, so I thought of telling him otherwise. "Yeah, I've been learning a lot!"  
  
"Such as?"  
  
"Well, things like adding other things together, and stuff?"  
  
"Really?" I could sense his scepticism already. "Two plus five equals what?"  
  
"Wait, what?"  
  
"Answer me, two plus five equals?"  
  
My mind drew a blank. Trust me, this sounds really stupid now, but from my view, numbers were much more foreign to me than letters. I tried to come up with answers in my head, but no matter what, I couldn't put two and two together, or two and five in this case. When it became clear the answer wasn't going to pop up anytime soon, I gave up and sighed.  
  
"Sorry bro," I said, lowering my voice, "I wanna learn about it, but I can't wrap my head around it. It's not like letters, you know."  
  
He took a deep breath, making the receiver crackle a bit. "That's fine. There's still time to learn, plus things are a bit trickier with us than it is with humans. I'm really sorry if I come across as annoyed, still, I just want you to do well."  
  
I knew he was a bit disappointed from his tone, but I gulped down my guilt and said: "I know. You still look out for me, bro, even when you're so far away, so thanks."  
  
"You're welcome. Just keep attacking it and eventually you'll understand. Shall I pass you back to Mom?”  
  
“Yeah!”  
  
So that was that. I didn’t want to disappoint him the next time, so after the call ended, I wanted to attend the classes with a new found focus. I would learn all I could and make his efforts pay off in a month.  
  
**(You mentioned you started battling around the same time you started learning basic literacy and numeracy skills. What did those entail?)**  
  
Well, it was alright at first, at least when we were still learning. We were in the battle arena for the first time, separate from the gym, so when I entered, I stood by the door, mouth agape at the sheer size of it. How practical it all was, I couldn't say. But from surface to ceiling, it was spacious, and you could see an indented dome in the roof where the windows were, with light radiating through the glass and giving the room a heavenly ambience.  
  
It did make me wonder where the hell we actually were, since the building must've stuck out like a sore thumb outside with something this huge, and for something apparently so secret. There were separate arenas in the room, set up like stages for each of us to practice in, and the layouts in some of them were different, not unlike the battle coliseums I'd see in that show. Far off, there was a long strip of glass with several people sitting behind them, watching us intently. I didn't think much of it at the time, so I just entered with everybody else when urged to and went along with it.  
  
They didn't stress the technical stuff at first and let us duke it out in pairs. The guys that grew up in the cities or around humans more or less did their own thing, and it showed. We were taught to watch their battles at first, since they had more experience, so that gave us an idea of what to look out for. So me, the rest of our wild group and the others watched as pairs in the domestic group took turns battling one on one. There wasn't much to say about it, but in time, they sorted our groups into two rows, grouped into those from the wild and those born in GeL, and were told to pick our partner from the opposite side, though of course, one person was still missing from our group, so they got a Budew from the domestic group to stand in for us instead. Aipom frowned.  
  
"Aw, I was hopin' to go with you again," he said.  
  
"Can't be helped, I guess."  
  
Pachirisu was my first choice as he was the only other Pokemon from the other group I kind of knew, and he seemed like a cool guy. He chatted with the moist-eyed Shinx, nuzzling close to him, and from what I can imagine, whispering reassuring compliments into his ear. Unfortunately, when he turned to us, he made the first move and went to Ponyta as a partner. I didn't really know what to do after that, so I thought I'd pick the luck of the draw. I watched everybody else pick their own partners. Aipom ended up going with Buneary, the girl he'd often tease in class, so that was off the table. By the end of it, there was only me and the blue guy left. I approached him, and before I could raise my paw up to say hi, he flinched and buried his head in his paws, whimpering. Again, that gave my a familiar vibe to my sulking brother. Part of me wanted to tell him to shut up, but another part of me wanted to hug him.  
  
Since this wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, plus Reggie was giving me stern looks, I slowly went to embrace him. He stopped shaking underneath my paw, so that gave me reason to start petting him, and eventually, he bloomed from his shrivelled up ball of fur and looked at me, wide-eyed, tears streaming down his face. When my aura honed in on his feelings, they radiated, to my surprise, nothing. Just emptiness inside. It wasn't deeply sorrowful or afraid, or anything. All it gave off was the loneliest feeling I'd ever experienced so far. How to describe it? It was like he never had anyone in the world before to care for him up until that moment, and as it turned out, it wouldn't be too far off. I found myself lost in his bewildered gaze.  
  
"Don't mean to rush you," Reggie said," But we'll be sparring soon, got me?"  
  
I let go and gestured Shinx to join me in an open spot in the wide room. We stood a few paces apart, ready to start, but he sat down, looking his deflated self. I approached him again, trying to reassure him with more ear scritches.  
  
"Are you alright?" I said, "Don't you wanna fight?"  
  
No response. He looked at me sadly, and I sighed, trying my best to hide my frustration with a friendly smile.  
  
"Look, I'm not really used to this that much either. My family didn't make me do that much fighting, unless you count playfights, but you know, you and me are kinda the same here. I dunno what you're going through exactly, but I feel outta place looking at all these Pokemon and their fiery attacks and fancy spells and whatnot. I kinda suck at channelling my aura to attack at the moment. But I socked that Aipom in the jaw, so that balances out, I guess."  
  
Still no response. He looked less miserable, so I guessed that was a step in the right direction. I stepped back and knelt down to him, gently caressing his face.  
  
"You don't have to say much, that's fine. To be honest, I'm getting a little sick of that Abra yammering on all the time, so I could take a break from that. But we're still supposed to spar, so we should get started soon. Can you do that for me?"  
  
Shinx looked to the other Pokemon in the right side of the room duking it out. They were all doing their own thing while we were still fence-sitting. I shook him gently, not wanting to urge him too suddenly to join the fight.  
  
"Well?"  
  
Finally, he looked back and nodded. I dried his eyes and assumed a battle stance not too far away. He followed suit and stood on all fours. At last, Shinx looked like the fierce lion cub he was born to be. Still, my pity extended into the fight, and I pointed at him.  
  
"You know, I haven't actually seen what you can do yet. You can make the first move."  
  
Shinx took a deep breath and started charging up something, making the light dance around his head like a halo. I braced myself for what was to come. I mean, it didn't seem like he had much up his sleeve, so I was sure whatever he'd throw at me would be nothing more than a light flick on the head. Big mistake. Instead, he shot a jolt of electricity at my belly, sending me backward. I lay on the floor in a trance, jerking my body up and down like I was possessed. It stopped after a few seconds, but as I rose to my knees, the air around me felt a little different, somehow. I put a paw on my chest, catching my breath.  
  
"W-wow," I said, "That'll teach me to underestimate you, huh?"  
  
There were few laughs from behind me. Pachirisu and Aipom stopped their match while they pointed at something above. When I looked up, I saw nothing there, yet.  
  
"Come on guys," I said, "What's so funny about this?"  
  
They said nothing and just snickered like idiots. As a last resort, I felt around for anything that might've landed on my head, when in fact, it wasn't on my head, but came from my head instead. My fur stuck out in the air like a mane of puffed up hair. Looking back, I wish I could've seen that. I'd give away my hat collection just to see that ridiculous ball of fluff.  
  
**(You have a hat collection?)**  
  
Yeah. Sometimes, I put it on just for fun, or when I want to surprise someone.  
  
**(Surprise someone? Like a disguise?)**  
  
Whatever, we're getting off track. So after that initial shock, har har, we had a bit of a song and dance, which involved me playfully slapping him across the face, since punching didn't seem in good taste, and he'd shoot more bolts of electricity my way, which I'd try to dodge. Most attempts weren't successful, so I ended up flopping around like a Magikarp half the time, but at least it was harmless. The one time I managed to dodge must've been completely by accident. Either that or he missed and hit another poor sod in the background, but I dunno. But after a while, we were both tuckered out, so we sat out together to take a breather. All things considered, Shinx warmed up quickly to me, nuzzling close to me while I watched the rest battle. He was still as silent as death, but we didn't really need to speak. It was just nice to feel I was there for him after that much heartache on his end.  
  
That moment of peace was all cut short when we heard screams on one of the stages. We saw from before Cubone had paired up with the Munchlax, but we paid little attention to them until that moment when Cubone started beating him over and over with Bone Rush. It wasn't the sort of friendly match we were told to follow, I mean, the guy really went at it. He pinned the Munchlax to the floor and just whacked him on the head, over and over, while he begged him to stop, all with this look in his eyes. Even though were we quite far away, they were vengeful and gave the same impression my Dad gave off sometimes, except more blank rather than angry. There were little splotches of blood on the floor around Munchlax's head. We hugged each other for comfort, feeling Shinx’s static course through me.  
  
Thankfully, Reggie stepped in before there could be any more carnage and separated the two by picking up Cubone by his tail. It didn't stop there since he flailed in his grasp, but couldn't get free.  
  
"Hey, chill out, mon! This isn't the wild, you don't need to go that far!"  
  
Cubone continued on, whose screeches echoed in the spacious room. Reggie closed his eyes and emitted a purple energy which pulsed through his paw. Eventually, Cubone stopped struggling altogether and gradually fell asleep. The Medicham lifted him up and cradled him in his arms, looking at him with a sorrowful expression until he attended to Munchlax, whose bloodied head had several nasty egg-sized bumps.  
  
"Just lay there, mon. It's all chill now. You'll be healed up soon, yeah?"  
  
Munchlax nodded before slumping to the floor, officially knocked out cold.  
  
So, that went well. After that, Reggie called the lesson quits and me and Shinx went our separate ways for that day, returning to our own rooms. It was me and Aipom in the garden again, where we sat by the pond with Buizel in there and Ponyta resting by the bank to collect our thoughts. Of course, Cubone was absent.  
  
"What the heck was that?" Aipom asked, "I thought there was something wrong with him, but not like that!"  
  
"Yeah," Buizel said, "He was so scary!"  
  
"Such a shame," Ponyta said, "I would have liked to see that happen."  
  
We all shot her questioning looks.  
  
"You wanted to see that?" Aipom said, "Why, did you want a fight to break out between them?"  
  
"Oh, sorry," she said, frowning, "I meant, I wish I saw what was wrong between them before the fight."  
  
"Ah, okay, that's slightly less creepy. I mean, I knew that guy was gonna tick at some point."  
  
I hummed to myself, considering the fight again, and felt a chill wash over me when I realised something.  
  
"He's gonna come back here, right?" I said, "What happens then?"  
  
"I dunno," Aipom said, "We'll avoid him as usual, but this time, we'll make sure to stay out of trouble. And if decides to start a fight, we'll all look out for each other, won't we?"  
  
A collective nod.  
  
"If he comes anywhere near me," Buizel said, splashing the water with a punch, "I'll make him eat my bubbles!"  
  
"No offense," Aipom said, "But I don't think those little pockets of air will help very much."  
  
"Then I'll punch him in the face!"  
  
"That's kinda better."  
  
So that was the highlight of that day, if you could call a Munchlax getting the stuffing beaten out of him a highlight. A few days later, Cubone returned to his spot in the garden and just kept to himself. We all made sure to stay as far away from him as possible in that room, which I kind of regret now, but you'll find out why later. So anyway, weeks passed without much excitement, and were either spent with me sparring with Shinx, who still never uttered any words, or keeping my head raised to pay attention to the numerous classes on addition and subtraction when we weren’t learning the human tongue. Then for the third time, I got the family call.  
  
"Hello, dearie," Mom said. I heard shuddering and sniffling on the other end, as well as the sound of crackling, bringing both cold and warmth to the call.  
  
“Hey, mama. Is, um, everything fine?”  
  
“Oh, yeah, of course! It’s gotten chilly all of a sudden. Your brothers are just huddled around the campfire. It is late autumn, so it is to be expected. We’ll be fine.”  
  
We did spend one winter on the island before, and although that was cold, it hadn’t snowed, so the food supply wasn’t exactly short.  
  
"Anyway,” she said, “How have you been?"  
  
"Well, things kinda went crazy. There's this Cubone in our group who isn't friendly at all, so we've been dealing with him, but other than that, things are kinda the same."  
  
"Unfriendly in what way?"  
  
"He almost killed a Munchlax not too long ago."  
  
"Well then, that's not good, is it? I hope you're alright after that!"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm helping a Shinx with his battles. He always seems lonely in class and never talks, so I wanna be there for him whenever I can."  
  
"Good to hear, dearie." I sensed her motherly smile through the receiver, if that makes sense. She passed me onto my younger brothers, who were always excited to say hello over the phone, even as Stumpy apparently had a cold, and then to Trunks.  
  
"Hello sis," he said, "I hope you've kept up with your studies this time around."  
  
“Well, yeah!” I said. “I ain’t gonna fall asleep in class again after last time!”  
  
“Sounds good. Then, what’s four plus nine?”  
  
“Thirteen!”  
  
“Very good. Have you learned multiplication and division yet?”  
  
“Eh, no. I don’t think we’ve gotten that far. Sorry, bro.”  
  
“No, no, that’s great. I wouldn’t expect them to go to that yet, from what I know about the school system. I’m glad the last call influenced you in some way.”  
  
I smiled. It was really gratifying to hear I’ve improved, coming from his words. We talked idly some more, but then, we stopped as two people started shouting far away on the other end, voices I recognised as Mom and Dad. It was hard to make out what they were ranting about, but it was the first time in a while I heard his voice, which was slightly reassuring, however angry he sounded. Eventually, their argument devolved into simple yelling, and the sound bumped and crackled with a series of random noises, which I took as a sign it was being passed around. I could hear Dad's voice no longer.  
  
"Dearie," Mom said, voice lowered, "Lia- I mean, Dad wants to talk to you. Is that alright?"  
  
My heart stopped. After all that song and dance about keeping me away, he finally wanted to talk. Although a sense of dread nestled in my gut, I wanted to catch up with him, and hoped for the best he wouldn't confront me about leaving the island.  
  
"Yeah. Please."  
  
"Alright," she took another deep breath. "Well, I'll hand you back to Azzy for now. I'll probably speak to you soon, and as usual, I love you. Bye."  
  
"I love you too." The phone went dead on the other end. I understood there would be another call soon after, so I sat and waited, breathing in and out, in and out.  
  
I guess words can't easily describe the awkwardness of that situation. If I can compare it to a human situation right now, it would probably be like going out with a day trip with your separated dad to go for drinks, only for him to dump you at the corner of the bar while he was off talking to his group of friends at a far-off table, and whatnot. I think I saw that in a movie, but don't remember which one, but anyway. It's the sort of awkwardness that only comes from long silences and broken families. Waiting in that garden while everyone stayed silent as well only added to it, a presence I tried to ignore.  
  
To my mercy and my surprise, the phone rang again and I held it to my ear once more.  
  
"Um, hello," he said. His voice was hoarse; deeper than before.  
  
"Hi." I waited for his turn, but there was a long pause in between then. It would've been the perfect moment for Cricketune to start chirping.  
  
"How are things?"  
  
"Uh, oh yeah, they're good."  
  
Another pause. And then, aside from more deep breaths on the other end, long, drawn out silence. He'd never been good at talking, even on the island, so this wasn't unexpected, but having lived through the situation before it, it was getting nigh unbearable. That gave me time to really sit and digest what he did, and how he acted in general, and how emotionally constipated he was most of the time when he wasn't angry. If only aura could've reached through phone signals, that would've helped. Maybe there's an app for that now. But in any case, these thoughts, along with the growing silence was the perfect catalyst to brew up a storm within me. I clutched the phone and took a deep breath.  
  
"Dad. You wanted to talk to me, so just spit it out. I'm sick of you shutting me out all the time. You always did, even when I was back home. You wouldn't listen, you'd rarely make sure we were ever okay, you almost never spent time with any of us, it was just Mama doing it all. Why? What did I do to deserve any of it, or bro, or anyone else? Just say something, please!"  
  
Rage boiled inside me, to the point I had to restrain myself from pitching the phone across the room by pacing through the grass. They brought out emotions I never knew, and never would've expressed in front of Dad, but when he became a disembodied voice, that gave me the push to let everything out I'd crammed in up until that point. So I held my breath and waited, and waited until he sighed on the other end.  
  
"I apologise, pup. I never should have treated you the way I did. Being alone has given me time to think, and looking back, there were many things I wish I could have done in a different way."  
  
"Like what? Say it in front of me."  
  
"Like, tearing up your drawings. I knew those were important to you. I just let my emotions get in the way. And for not listening to you. I should not have made you feel powerless to talk."  
  
"And bro, as well. He'd talk about you a lot, you know, he wanted to be like you, and you treated him pretty much the same way."  
  
"I know I did. I just wanted him to be strong, for all of you, like I never..." His voice trailed off. "Anyway, that's not the point."  
  
"What is the point then, huh?"  
  
"Point is, he, well." He lowered his voice, "I am paying the price for that. He doesn't look at me like I used to. Those eyes are always looking somewhere else whenever he comes with the rest to speak to me. That means I failed."  
  
Another silence. I breathed in and out, calmer now I managed to squeeze that info out of him, but some things still felt unresolved between us. The fact I still left the island was the big Donphan in the room. And then another question arose from within.  
  
“You know we have the power of aura and all?” I said. “You could’ve listened to what we were thinking, right? That’s what happens when you grow up to be a Lucario, isn’t it? Then why didn’t you listen to us?”  
  
Another sigh. “I shut them out. They were there, but I pushed them away. That’s why I spent so long being so distant from all of you. I’m especially sorry for that. I could’ve been there for you.”  
  
I took another deep breath. That brought some more closure, at least.  
  
"So," he said, sounding brighter, "How is it over there? Are you safe? Are you keeping strong?"  
  
"Yeah, of course. They're looking after me a lot. I'm training my body all the time, so I'm always on the go, and I've made a few friends already. I hope that's what you wanted to hear."  
  
"Yes it is. I'm glad you made the decision to go there. I still wouldn't have allowed it, but it's a bit too late to complain now. You seem in good hands."  
  
"Thank you. Is that all?" To be honest, as nice as it was talking to him and airing out our dirty coats, I wanted to get off the phone as soon as possible, so I could sit and decide whether or not to forgive him. Not just for me, but for the rest of my family as well. I waited again for his reply.  
  
"Really, I just wanted to say," he said, exhaling, "I love you."  
  
Another uncomfortable break followed. Then, he started sobbing.  
  
"I never got to say that while you were still here."  
  
More weeps followed, and the phone went dead quiet. That final silence lasted for a long time, even after I handed the phone back. I sat there, carrying his confessions and his sudden emotional outburst with me all throughout the rest of the day, and into the night, where I dreamed of him pushing me up in the air on that tire swing.  
  
That ended up being the last time I ever talked to him.


	21. How Shine Got His Groove

“Excuse me.” Tony pressed the record button and looked between the two. Curio crossed her arms, while Shine stared longingly at her, with a certain heaviness in his heart. He remembered what she was talking about.  
  
“ _Um, why’d you stop? We’re still rolling, aren’t we?”_  
  
“I’m terribly sorry. You just brought it up suddenly, so I felt like we needed to take a moment.” Tony sighed. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your father?”  
  
“ _Hold on a sec.”_ Curio leaned back in her seat and yawned, stretching her legs. _“I’ll get there soon enough. It’s nothing that sinister, if that’s what you’re thinking.”_  
  
“Then why does Shine--”  
  
“ _It’s fine, Tony.”_ Shine shook his head and sat upright. _“Let her get on with it. I see where this is going.”_  
  
“Alright, if you wish.” Tony pressed the REC button again.

* * *

**(Before that happened, Shine told me a little bit about how he got his name. He said it came from you, but he doesn’t remember the exact details.)**  
  
Oh, yeah. We had quite a bit of fun coming up with that.  
  
 **(But this naming part interests me a lot, as you've only named the other subjects by their species, except for Basil. I remember you saying a while back that for most Pokemon, names have little importance, so the fact that the staff would make you name yourselves stands out to me. How did that come to be?)**  
  
Huh. Yeah, I guess I could talk about that. At that point, we'd grown fully used to hearing human speech. There were still certain long words we couldn't understand, but since we'd mastered listening to them, it wasn't long before we started actually speaking it for real, which was the focus of the lessons for that period, for the most part. At the end of our class, Azzy presented us with this:  
  
"Alright, students. I'm pleased to announce you'll have homework for the rest of this month!"  
  
While I didn't fully understand the concept of homework, from the groaning reactions of those in the domestic group, it didn’t seem to be very pleasant.  
  
"Aw, really teach?" Sneasel said. "Are you gonna make us read a book or somethin'? Do you wanna bore us to death?"  
  
"No, no," Azzy said, "Nothing like that. In fact, you can do this in your own time. I want you all to think of names for yourselves. You can ask a friend of yours to come up with suggestions, or do it completely on your own terms, just as long as it's something you're comfortable using for the rest of your time here. Take my name for example."  
  
He spelled out his own name on the chalkboard and broke it down into each of the sounds used in that word.  
  
"Azzy is a nickname my own partner, Mackenzie, used to call me. I like it because it's informal and easy-going, so it stuck with me, and now, it's my official name."  
  
"Excuse me, professor," Abra said, "But I see little point in this exercise. Names are human constructs, so why should we stick with those conventions?"  
  
"Good question. Yes, names are largely something humans came up with in their own language system. We take a lot of things we see at face value, rather than what it might mean. I remember the time when I was a little ball of blue energy, and..."  
  
Yeah, you get the picture. He prattled on about his old self, and I almost let my snout hit the floor, until he finally got back to the point of the topic.  
  
"But anyway, my name gives me a sense of belonging. It lets me know my life has meaning, and that I'm my own Pokemon rather than a faceless Azumarill among many others. It's around this time many of you are starting to develop your own interests, and so, naming yourselves will help you carve out your own paths from here. When you've decided on a name, please let me know and I'll write it down. It would be better to come up with a unique name, so choose wisely. Any questions?"  
  
I looked to Basil, the Lickitung, who seemed settled on a name long before he came here, so I raised my paw.  
  
"Yes, miss Riolu?"  
  
"Yeah," I said, "Why is Basil the only one with a name – why not anybody else?"  
  
"Hmm, another good question. In that case, Basil, would you like to tell everybody how your name came to be?"  
  
"Sure thing," he said, and went to the front of the class. He took the chalk in his own paw and wrote his name down with ease.  
  
"It's kind of a funny story, this one," he said with a wide grin that showed even through his large tongue. "Back when I was with my trainer, she was into cooking. Even when we rested at a campsite on one of our journeys, she'd haul out all her cooking equipment and ingredients and whatnot, and of course, it wasn't before long I got into it as well. She'd walk it through with me, so I trained my paws to hold all sorts of utensils and learnt all the cooking processes, from boiling to baking. At first, my food would come out really bland, yet her meals tasted wonderful, so I wondered how she did it.  
  
Of course, I couldn't ask, which is partly why I came here to learn how to speak, but I could guess. Anyway, while I cooked some pasta, I dug into her bag of goodies while her back was turned and pulled out a bottle of basil leaves to spice things up a bit. While basil can be used for pasta, spices are only good in moderation. So, while it still boiled, I ended up emptying the whole bottle in there, thinking it would taste as good as her cooking. Not a good idea.  
  
When me and her tried it together, we immediately spat it back out. She said I used enough basil to turn the whole thing green. That stuck with her, and since she hadn't decided on a name before, she started calling me Basil, and it stuck with me. So that's my story."  
  
"Heh," Sneasel snickered, "So because you did something dumb, your trainer ended up calling you something dumb as well. _Shithead_ would've been a better name."  
  
There were a few laughs behind us coming from the human students that watched. That was the first time we heard a swear. He said it in the human tongue as well, as it’s untranslatable in our own language, and even though we didn't know how harsh it was, it sounded cutting, like he just ripped Basil a new hole just by saying that one word. Azzy frowned and walked up to snatch the chalk off of Basil's paw, probably to fire another one of his trusty chalk bullets, when he pulled it away. Even when faced off with someone like Sneasel, the Lickitung kept that friendly smile.  
  
"Yeah, that was pretty stupid, looking back at it. I truly was a _shithead_ then, as you call it. Even if my trainer called me that instead of Basil, I still would’ve worn it honourably.”  
  
Sneasel crossed his arms, looking rather deflated. I don't think he got the reaction he wanted.  
  
“Never mind the fact that titling Pokemon after obscenities is illegal under Sinnohan naming laws,” Basil said, “But congratulations, Sneasel. You’ve just earned an extra hour with me after class.”  
  
“Aww. Wait, so that means you can’t name a Metapod _Pe--”_  
  
“Two hours.”  
  
I mean, don’t act like you’d never consider it if you had a Metapod. They can use harden, after all.  
  
( **Um, I believe we’re getting off track.)**  
  
Alright, I’ll shut up. So after that, I thought about everything I'd experienced so far, and started coming up with a list of names in my head. Dawn was the first choice, since I liked the character from that show, but I didn't really feel like Dawn, or a rising sun in an early morning. I thought back to my art, and thought about naming myself Crayon, then realised what a goddamned stupid name that was and went back to square one. So for a while, I brainstormed and got nowhere, even when I asked my group about what name they thought suited me.  
  
"Beats me," Aipom said, "What about Rio? That sounds catchy."  
  
"Nah," I said, "Kind of seems a bit easy. don't you think? It's like if I named Ponyta Pony."  
  
"I don't mind being called Pony," she said, "If you want to call me that."  
  
"Nah, trust me," Aipom said, "You're better off with something a bit less tacky."  
  
"Ooh, ooh!" Buizel said, rising out of the water, "Whaddya think I should be?"  
  
"Spitz, maybe?" Aipom said. "That's how you attack isn't it?"  
  
"Aw, come on. That name sucks."  
  
"Well I dunno, I’m tryin’ my best here!"  
  
"Hey," I said, "I'm sure we'll come up with them somehow. We've got time, right?"  
  
That was something they could all agree on. So days must have passed until we got our first session where we interacted with the human students. They were older than a lot of trainers that started out, I'd guess, but still quite young, maybe approaching their 20s. Though I didn't know how involved they were at the time, they all studied something similar at many different universities.  
  
The things they choose to study there are kinda funny, now I think about it. Pokemon Studies, as I'd later find out, is an actual course that you have to pay millions for, just like Film Studies or Politics or whatever other thing that probably pays very little. Then again, look at me. It ain't my place to judge what these humans do, I guess.  
  
Anyway, our first session was held in a lounge room which had scratching posts and couches and chairs and whatnot, where everybody had a seat interacting with their chosen Pokemon. The goal was to find out more about each other and just chew the fat in general. We were taught to respond with yes or no questions, since we weren't quite at speaking level yet, so I just listened for the most part as I was buddied up with this punk-dude named Lexy with black hair that stuck up like a spike. Despite his edgy appearance, he looked nice, and that smile probably could've melted even a Glalie's heart. The fact his aura radiated a positive vibe in general meant I warmed up to him rather quickly. He introduced himself, and I repeated it, breaking it down into its basic sounds.  
  
"Yeah, that's right!" he said. Lexy brought a hand to my face before pulling it away, looking shiftily from side to side. "Sorry, I probably should've asked first. I try to be mindful of everyone else’s personal space. So, do you mind being petted?"  
  
I remembered how nice it felt when the first human came to our island, so I nodded, and let him scratch my chin, panting as he worked his magic. Nowadays, I don't really let my guard down so easily with strangers. Kids, maybe. They almost always have that sense of positivity for Pokemon, but with most people, I have to know them well enough to let them get to that level. If you can take the hint, Tony, this means you’re almost at that level, but not quite. No offense.  
  
 **(That’s fine.)**  
  
But yeah, he went through a series of random topics; just the usual icebreaking stuff like whether or not I liked it there, or whether or not I felt smarter for being there. I shook my head to that second one, but he just gave me a reassuring tap on the chin.  
  
"I'm sure your time will come soon. From what I've been told, they have a lot of great things planned for you."  
  
I just hummed to myself, when I noticed the bag beside him and pawed out for it. His eyes dilated as he noticed what I was doing, and he clutched his belongings for safety.  
  
"Woah there. You're nice and all, but I've got a lot of stuff there I need to keep safe, like all my notes and papers. Plus, it's not really polite to go through someone else's things."  
  
That was kind of a blow for me. I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing in front of those humans, so to have one to show resistance like that sort of killed the mood. His reaction was really sudden and jarring as well, which made my heart skip a beat. He must've seen the sorry look on my face, since he frowned and rifled through his bag.  
  
"Sorry, I know you're just curious, that's all. I’ll try to find something you might like."  
  
I know what you're thinking, and no, that's not where my name comes from. Not yet, anyway. So he looked through his bag for a while, which must've been bottomless, since it took a while, until he scrunched up his face at something inside of it.  
  
"What the hell's this doing in there?"  
  
He pulled it out to reveal some sort of contraption, which had many moving parts with gears at the bottom in a box-shaped container. He held it close to me and let me inspect it. That piece of junk was interesting to look at, as it had all sorts of pieces like pins, scraps of metal and porcelain doll parts cobbled together, and in all sorts of colours. What purpose it had though, I couldn't say. I looked at the bottom and saw it had a button, so I pressed it and it moved, which made my heart race, so I dropped it by accident. Luckily, it didn't smash, and just kept moving on its own, vibrating against the floor like some sort of motor went haywire in that mess of parts. Lexy knelt down to pick it up and narrowed his eyes at the strange machine.  
  
"You know, I think I actually paid money for this. Must've been the worst purchase I made. I went looking in an antique shop for some old electric guitars, and found this thing, which I thought would look good on my desk while I worked, but never did anything with it. I don't even know what to call it. It's just some sort of curio, I suppose."  
  
I also know what you’re thinking there, and no, it’s not quite that either. It didn’t click immediately at first, but I liked the way it sounded, so I recited it several times in front of him. It just rolled off the tongue very easily.  
  
“Yeah, that’s right, it’s a curio, or a doodad, or a thingamajig. Anything you’d like to call it. Honestly, I don’t think I have any use for it.” He tapped the top of the doll head. “If you want, you can have it. I know it ain’t much, but maybe you could show it to your friends.”  
  
“ _Than’-kyu!”_ I said, slowly. I dunno. K sounds in between words and phrases usually tripped me up, but it was still a learning process.  
  
After the session was over, I took it back to the garden, turning the object over in my paws over and over again. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but there was something about the way it was constructed that entranced me, even though it was practically useless. Just the fact that someone can take these random objects and make something different from them. But I’d rather not waffle on about it too much. There’s still the matter of how we came up with our names.  
  
One day at the end of a particular week, we pretty much had the whole day to ourselves, so I lazed about in the garden, as usual, but couldn't drum up the energy to do much else. Everybody else slept behind a tree save for Cubone, who stared off into space as usual, and so, there wasn't much point in bothering any of them. Let sleeping mons lie, after all. But my paws itched to explore more of the facility, since I figured I'd only seen a fraction of how big it truly was, and so I paced around for a bit by the door, deciding what I wanted to do. I wanted to see Shine and show him this gifted curio.  
  
The thing was, at least at the beginning, we were told not to mingle with the other subjects for whatever reason. I guess it made sense in the long run, as I'd find out later the purpose of it was to make sure each subject interacted with other Pokemon of their own background for a while before being allowed to socialise with them, which made it easier for the bigwigs to do research on. Of course, most of it flew over my head at the time, but the 'keep to your own pack' part I understood. But we were allowed to mingle with the other Pokemon anyway in class, for better or for worse, so I didn't see much point in enforcing that. I had a rough idea of where each of their rooms were, so I ventured through the corridors, doodad in hand, and tried my best to look natural in front of the wandering staff.  
  
Oh yeah, the corridors. They weren't easy to navigate at all. They were pretty to look at as they were decorated with all sorts of patterns and decals, most likely painted to add colour to the grey background walls, but there were a lot of them with not enough landmarks to make each area distinct. After wandering around for what felt like forever, I stumbled across a corridor leading to a door that had paintings of skyscrapers and gym buildings adorning the walls, like the ones I'd see on that show. I checked both sides to make sure none of the staff had snooped behind me, and the two opposite hallways were both empty. With that, I padded gingerly to the domestic room.  
  
Gingerly. Now that's a nice word if I've ever heard one. Shame you don't really hear that many people say it in a real conversation.  
  
I nudged the door open and had to adjust my eyes to the many weird things inside that room. There were many contraptions and possessions inside it that I didn't know the purpose of at the time, but can remember clearly now. Little sandbags for the subjects to train with, a small TV with some sort of purple cube connected to it, a dusty bookshelf filled with old tomes, and other gizmos and gadgets aplenty. I wanted to find out what purpose they all had, so it didn't take me long to sneak into the room, only for Abra to teleport in front of me and stop me in my tracks.  
  
"Oh, it is you," he said. "What in all blazes are you doing here?"  
  
"Well, I--"  
  
"Do not answer that." He raised his paw and pulled me back with an invisible force. "You are not allowed here, animal. Go back to urinating all over your trees and rocks."  
  
"Wait a moment! I didn't wanna disturb you guys, I just wanted to--"  
  
Before I could finish my sentence, he pushed me outside and slammed the door on my muzzle. My body could move itself again, and with that freedom, I found myself reluctantly walking out of the corridor, trying to keep myself from going back to kick the door down. That Abra had always made little slights whenever we were in class together, mostly to do with my lack of book smarts, but that time, he looked down at me as if I wasn't even a Pokemon, but like some bottom feeder. But he was a Pokemon too, so that just left me confused and enraged.  
  
So, as if I haven't stressed this enough, Abra was a massive dick. At least at the beginning, but whatever.  
  
Since I was so far away from my base already, I thought I might as well've gone the extra mile and visit the last group. Now, it was a weird case with them, as I'd soon find out. I went looking for a corridor with its walls painted like the other two bases, but with the similar looking hallways, it was hard to find one that stood out. The more I trekked through each passage, the more I noticed my presence, as I started getting weird looks from the mediators walking by. My pacing slowed, making sure to look as natural as natural can be, then, to my surprise and disappointment, I saw Azzy peeking out of one of the passages further down. Since I didn't want to give up the search just yet, I disappeared into the nearest corridor I could find, regardless of where I was actually headed.  
  
The walls were painted with all sorts of coloured checkerboards, with a door at the end. It wasn't like the other two bases in design, so I really didn't know what to expect from this. But I advanced through there anyway, and when I opened the door, there was that same sort of gaudiness in the room. The floor was covered in cushions and stuffed toys, some of which the Pokemon, particularly Buneary, played with in one corner. The Munchlax was there too, with his chunky body lazing on a pile of cushions. And there was Shinx, lying down underneath the lamplight with a few books at his side, and a fluffy white tail poking out underneath the bed of pillows.  
  
He looked so peaceful, so content in that moment, whilst every other time I saw him, he either cried or looked afraid in some other way. There was that glow of his as well, like a field around him that sparkled, as light shined directly above him from the lamp. It was like a halo, or something like that. I stood there, not bothering anyone until Buneary came up to me, clutching some sort of doll.  
  
"Hi hi!" she said, ears twitching, "Are you a friend?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess." She didn't seem to mind me being there, unlike that yellow asshat.  
  
"Yay! Yay! Meet my other friend!" She presented the doll to me, which looked just like the spitting image of a Buneary, except it was white and wore all sorts of tiny clothes, all pastel coloured and the like. It wasn't really to my taste. "She's called Milly! I'm Milly! We're both Milly!"  
  
I chuckled, really at a loss for what to say. "Well, good for you, I guess. For now, I’m, er, just Riolu."  
  
"Just Riolu! Just Riolu! Love that name!"  
  
“No, that’s not what I--”  
  
“Shall we play, Just Riolu?”  
  
That took me off guard. I glanced over to where she was before, which had all sorts of dolls seated around a table looking thing. I wasn't exactly in the mood for a pretend tea party or whatever. In fact, I found the whole thing kinda creepy. Milly seemed like she was in her own world, far removed from the presence of others beside the room, but from what I read from her aura, she was perfectly harmless. Just an innocent Pokemon, protected from all the world's horrors, raised in a place perfect for those of her kind.  
  
I just shrugged and went along with whatever she planned for me, so she squealed with glee and dragged me over to that table so she could introduce me to her other friends. There were inanimate objects, just like her own named doll, and yet they all had personalities of their own, each having their own favourite sort of sweets, their own favourite colour, and blah, blah, blah. It was all playing pretend, which I just accepted as I wanted to please her. It was fine back then, but now, I get a diabetic shock just thinking about it. Why does anybody, particularly girls, enjoy playing dress up with toys?  
  
 **(Why do you enjoy making figurines?)**  
  
Eh, point taken.  
  
So an hour of menial cuteness passed, and thankfully, the Munchlax woke up and took over for me, as he enjoyed playing with the Buneary much more than I did. I eventually rose from my cushioned seat but not before saying goodbye to Milly. She was already occupied with Munchlax, stuck in her own bubble once more. By that time, Shinx had woken up, so I went up to him and scritched behind his ears again.  
  
"So," I said, "This seems kinda nice. The Pokemon here look friendly, at least."  
  
No response. No matter what I said, the aura of emptiness still emanated from him. Something about this base was off somehow, but I didn't think to press about it yet, so I changed the subject.  
  
"They've asked us to come up with names. I haven’t really decided on mine, but I have a few ideas. What about you?"  
  
No response, still. I kept trying to break the ice.  
  
"So nobody's come to help, yet, or are you still undecided?"  
  
No response, yet again. I sighed, trying to hold back my growing impatience. He was a quiet guy, sure. That was fine. But at a certain point, after many weeks of hanging around with him and class, yet not knowing anything about him at all, I started to get desperate. He was one tough nut to crack.  
  
You want to weigh in on the situation there, Shine? You’ve been quiet whenever I mentioned you.  
  
 **(I’m good, thanks.)**  
  
Alright, but remember, this is your story as much as it is mine. Well anyway, I was about to sit next to him when the Pachirisu woke up, emerged out of the cushions and scurried in front of him, knitting his imaginary eyebrows.  
  
“Whaddya want with him?” he screeched. His sudden entry made me jump a little, but I kept my ground.  
  
“I just wanna talk with him, that’s all.”  
  
“Yeah, well, he doesn’t talk, really. I haven’t heard one peep from him since we both hatched. Listen, he’s not like you and me. All he wants is to be left alone, and in your case, it’s best to leave it that way.”  
  
“Now wait a sec!” I pointed at the tiny rodent. “That’s not fair. I’ve been trying to help him all this time, and now, you’re telling me to just walk away? Why don’t you let him decide for himself?”  
  
Now that set him off. Sparks started flying from his cheeks. “Because he can’t think for himself! He needs someone that knows him well to get him through the day, and you’re just getting in the way!”  
  
“That’s not true!” Shinx shouted, leaving us two in shock. “S-s-she’s been a massive help to me!”  
  
Pachirisu was especially wide-eyed. Surprise. Happiness. Guilt. All those emotions flooded through him. And with Shinx, sadness, yet determination; a far cry from the emptiness in his heart before. The electric rodent skittered over to him, dragging his tail on the ground.  
  
“Sorry about that. I just don’t know what your deal is, since you’re so hush-hush.”  
  
Shinx sighed and glanced at the wall to his left. “S-s-sorry. I don’t know how to express myself with words.” He looked back to me with that same quiet anxiety. “You can s-s-sit with me. It’s not much. I’m s-sorry.”  
  
I took a deep breath and joined him and Pachirisu on the cushioned floor. It felt nice and plush with a different texture to the soft grass, though it was still man-made. Shinx took an interest in the object I held in my paw. “Yeah, it’s a bit weird, isn’t it? This human gave it to me, since he mentioned something about not needing it anymore. I dunno what it does, but I kinda like the look of it. He said it was a curio, or somethin’.”  
  
He cocked his head at that phrase. I laid the object on the floor and glanced at his stack of books by his side, the top of which had a flashy cover with a robed Pokemon, similar looking to the Gardevoir, featured in the centre.  
  
“Whatcha readin’?”  
  
“Oh, nothing much. It’s kind of s-s-silly.”  
  
“Silly?” Pachirisu intervened. “That’s awesome. You’ve got a Gallade taking down an evil empire and stuff, how is that silly?!”  
  
“Don’t know. It’s n-n-nerdy. That’s what the others say.”  
  
“Never mind the others,” Curio said, patting his head, “You can read, that’s great! I don’t really get it, but Mama used to read to me and I loved it!”  
  
Shinx frowned. That might’ve struck a nerve, or something. I pulled my paw away from him, trying to gauge his aura. There was that same sense of emptiness again.  
  
“It must be nice, to have a family,” he said in a low tone. “I wonder what that’s like. I heard you get calls from them, is that right?”  
  
“Yeah.” I crossed my arms, thinking back to the last conversation I had. “Sometimes, it’s hard. There’s a lot of baggage, y’know. But I love them all the same. I feel so lucky, being able to talk to them from so far away.” I sighed, putting two and two together, and tried to think of the right way to approach Shinx’s dilemma. “Sorry. Did something happen to them?”  
  
Shinx didn’t answer, but Pachirisu poked his head between us and stroked the other’s head.  
  
“We were born here, y’know. The guys asked for eggs from the great outdoors and raised us here.”  
  
“Oh.” I tried to wrap my head around the concept, until I came to a realization and sympathetically leaned into both of them. The static didn’t bother me. “So, none of you have parents?”  
  
“It ain’t that. As far as we know, they’re doin’ fine. Either out in the wild or at breedin’ centres, apparently. That’s what we were told. We got fair treatment here, so it’s fine, I guess. No skin off my nose.”  
  
“Then why does Shinx feel so empty? I get this, you know, aching from inside him and it’s been bothering me all this time!” My heart started aching as well. I couldn’t fathom not having parents or having anyone of your blood to imprint on at birth.  
  
“I dunno. My tutor fills the gap just fine. He’s the same type as us, a Manectric. He’s pretty cool, I guess.”  
  
“B-b-but, he’s--” Shinx broke away from us and started tearing up again. “He doesn’t treat me the s-same way as you! He respects you! I’m just, just weak!”  
  
There it was again; that same self hatred I saw in Aipom. That emptiness was replaced with a potent sadness once more. I got to my knees and bashed my fists on the floor. “Enough! I’ve had it with everyone callin’ themselves weak! I don’t care about that; you’re just fine as you are!”  
  
Shinx sniffled and retreated to the corner. That sadness still didn’t subside.  
  
“I d-don’t get it, w-w-why do you care about me s-so much? I can’t hold my own in battle, I can’t get along with others like everyone else can, it’s just, just...”  
  
Before he could say any more, I crawled over and cuddled him.  
  
“C’mon, don’t be silly. Everyone came here from different places; that’s what Basil said. You know him?”  
  
“Y-yes. He seems nice.”  
  
“Well, listen to what he says. Don’t beat yourself up for it, just do you, you know?”  
  
“O-okay.” I pulled away from him, and he wiped his face. “S-s-sorry.”  
  
“Now stop saying that,” I said, frowning, “Nothin’ to be sorry about.”  
  
“Sorry.”  
  
I laughed and flicked his head playfully. “Aw c’mon, now you’re diggin’ yourself a deeper hole, Shine.”  
  
“Shine?” He cocked his head. “I-I’m a Shinx.”  
  
I paused. I didn’t mean to say that; it just sort of came out. Then I remembered Azzy’s homework. “You still lookin’ for a name?”  
  
He nodded.  
  
“Well, why not choose Shine? I saw you shinin’ earlier. And, and--” I rubbed my head excitedly. “And that means ‘do well’ as well, that’s what teach said! So how about it?”  
  
His mouth made an O shape. He turned around, repeating the word to himself over and over, before he looked back and smiled, for the first time ever.  
  
“Yes. I’d love that. And how about you? Aren’t you decided, yet?”  
  
I shrugged. To my surprise, he jolted out of his place and sorted through the stack of books until he found one marked ‘DICTIONARY’. He flicked through the pages until he put a paw on one word in the ‘C’ category: ‘curio.’  
  
“It’s supposed to mean a rare, unusual, and intriguing object, like what you brought as well, and is rooted from the word curiosity as well, which means a strong desire to learn something.” He eyed me up and down and smiled wide, revealing a cute set of fangs. “That really suits you!”  
  
I recited it as well, thinking back to the session with Lexy, and then it finally clicked with me. I’d call myself Curio from then on. I howled that name in the room, and Shine joined in as well, until we fell on our backs, laughing. We got a few weird looks from the others that watched, but we didn’t care. We were just happy to name ourselves at last.  
  
To this day, even after all I went through to get here, I still wear that name like a badge of honour. Throughout my life, it ended up gaining more meaning as I went through each day and survived each hardship, from describing the sort of stuff I'd go on to create to the many questions of the world I wanted answers to, I never lost my sense of curiosity. Most Pokemon like me would be too jaded to care anymore, but I held onto that feeling of wanderlust and never let go.  
  
I hope you do as well, Shine. Thanks a lot for naming me. It might seem silly now, but seriously, props to you, mon, it meant a lot to me.  
  
 **(You’re welcome. And I’m glad you made me remember how I earned my name. Thank you.)**  
  
Of course, someone had to do a Rain Dance on our parade. Azzy let himself into the room, probably startled by the commotion, and gave me a stern look. When I realised he was probably looking all over for me, I stood up and went to leave. Before I went through the door, I saw Shine maintained that goofy smile, and I was pleased to have finally turned that frown upside down. Pachirisu waved back at us.  
  
“I owe you one, mon,” he said, “Thanks for cheering this sourpuss up.”  
  
“Wait!” Shine exclaimed. “I’m not a s-sourpuss!”  
  
At last, I made my way down the hallway with that blue rabbit.  
  
"Am I in trouble?" I said.  
  
"Well, normally you would be, but I'll let it slide for now. Don't go sticking your snout into the other bases from now on, alright?"  
  
"Yeah, but I don't understand. Why aren't we allowed to go there when we talk to them anyway in our lessons?"  
  
"I shouldn't say, but it won't be forever. At some point, you'll be able to talk with them freely, but for now, just stay in your own base."  
  
I opened my mouth to say something else, but couldn't find the right words for it, so I gave up. Again, they wanted pure data from the groups in the first year or so, and although I didn't know that part, I reckoned they probably were doing it for something important, so I didn't press further.  
  
“That Shinx named me, you know. I’m settling on Curio. How do you think that sounds?”  
  
He smiled. “I couldn’t think of anything better suited for a mon of your kind.”  
  
So there you have Shine's origin story, now. Not that he didn't already tell you bits and pieces, I imagine, but still, that's something I like to think back on every now and then.  
  
 **(I see. So, do you feel like talking about your father now?)**  
  
Well, it ties into the rest of my family as well, so I sort of hoped I wouldn't get into that, but oh well. We're already this far, plus I kind of left you with cold feet with that before, so I guess I owe it now to tell you. But let me set the scene.  
  
So I continued my lessons with a new-found energy after being named. Me and Shine hung out a lot more in class, and we’d often participate together whenever we were assigned to a task. We weren’t allowed to go to each other’s base, but I heard stories from him about how the Pachirisu took an interest in Milly’s doll clothes, and how the Bidoof would often start fights with the Munchlax over which cushion they decided to keep. I think the Starly took interest in Shine’s books as well, which I was pleased with.  
  
So a month passed since the last conversation, and I waited for the call in the garden, picking out blades of grass as I waited. It just felt right, after so much that happened, since I’d be able to tell my family I named myself as well as the fact I made a new friend. But the usual mediator that brought the cell phone never came. At that point, I started to feel pent up, but kept waiting. There was still time. By the point it reached dinner though, my anticipation curdled into anxiety. That couldn’t have been normal.  
  
As the bell outside chimed and the others started lining up to exit the garden, someone swooped in. It was Lucy, the Gardevoir, floating into the area with a pained look on her face. The frills in her dress swayed behind her as she rushed over to me. Her aura was that of dread and fear. My blood turned to ice. This couldn’t have been good news.  
  
“Curio,” Lucy said, “I apologize, but please, come with me quickly. I need to tell you something important.”


	22. Pieces of Home

So there I sat in Lucy’s office. It was a pretty nice place, all things considered, with plush furniture, walls decorated with cute Pokemon paintings, and a clothing rail specifically for her long line of pastel-coloured dresses. It even smelled of roses for whatever reason. I would’ve appreciated it more if my mind wasn’t racing with all sorts of ideas. It must’ve had something to do with my family. But what happened? Was everything alright? What if…

I slapped myself across the face. I didn’t want to acknowledge that yet. Lucy was in the corner, tending to something while the kettle boiled. My heart pounded with dread, until she came around with two mugs of cocoa.

“Here,” she said, handing it over. “I know it isn’t much, but I’m sure you’ll like it.”

“Um, thanks,” I said, looking at my own reflection in the brown beverage. “But, um, why?”

“It’s better this way.” She sat back down. “It’ll help calm your nerves.”

I gulped. She couldn’t have had good news in store for me, but one sniff of that cocoa made me forget, at least for the moment, and I sipped it. It was warm and rich, like the one I had on the boat. My heart steadied, although there was still that lingering whiff of uneasiness in the air.

“Is it nice?”

I nodded.

“Good,” she smiled, taking a sip. “Well, perhaps it’s as good as store brand powder gets, but never mind.”

I took another sip. She frowned.

“I apologise for all of this. I know it’s awfully abrupt, but we have some news for you about your family.”

Another sip. There was a moment of silence, and then, she continued.

“Azzy and his partner went to visit them as usual this month. It takes about a day to get there, since it’s quite far away, but they usually get there without much trouble. When they went out there though, they said a storm froze everything over.”

Yet another sip. At that point, I could see where it was going. My family said it was getting colder, so that didn’t really do much to help my anxiety. Still, I kept listening.

“They couldn’t get there on boat, and so, settled for taking a flying-type to the island. They arrived, but when they got there, the island was frozen over too. Your family wasn’t there.”

I dropped the mug, spilling its contents all over the table.

“W-what?”

“Yes, unfortunately. Azzy called me this afternoon to say.”

It felt like my chest would burst. I didn’t want to say it, but at the same time, I couldn’t delay that thought any longer.

“A-are they, are they dead?”

“No.” Lucy sighed. “Bless your fluffy little tail, no. Azzy found a box on the island with a note handwritten by your mother. He said it was hard to read, but apparently, they had left the island before the storm with a Gyrados. They left the box just for you to keep. He’s coming back here as soon as possible to get it back to you.”

I let out what would’ve been a sigh of relief if the news had actually been relieving at all. I mean, what do you say to that? Oh yeah, this bad thing might not’ve been as terrible as you thought it would be, but it still feels like a punch to the solar plexus. I tried to process what Lucy said, but I just couldn’t.

I leapt out of the chair of my own accord, and headed for the door, or at least tried. My legs wobbled all the way, and my head swam. I needed some fresh air as soon as possible.

“Curio,” Lucy called, hovering over to me. “Please.” She extended her arms towards me. “I know it’s a lot to take in. I’m so sorry to be the one to break the news to you. But if it will ease your pain, you can come here for a cuddle. Or some more cocoa. Anything until Azzy gets back.”

I stayed stock still. It probably would’ve been what I needed, sure, but I couldn’t accept her offer. Not yet.

“I want to be alone.”

She brought her hands back, touching the tip of her chest. “I understand. But please. Make sure you eat. It is dinnertime, after all.”

My stomach was rumbling, so she had a point there. I nodded and opened the door to those hallways. After that rosy stink, the lukewarm air of the rest of the facility was comforting, as well as the hot aromas coming in from the cafeteria. I tried to walk, but ended up hugging the wall instead. Thankfully, Lucy saw me struggling, and lowered herself to my level to support me as I walked. That was sort of nice, although I couldn’t really thank her since my mind was still a mess.

Once we reached the dinner hall, she sat me down on my base’s table, sandwiched between Aipom, who was now known as Hans, and Buizel, who was now known as Floatsam. I was too zonked out to notice what she asked them, but when she left, Hans got out of his seat and came back to give me my dinner tray. He put his paw on my shoulder.

“You alright?” he said.

I just nodded in reply.

“You sure? Cuz you look like you’ve seen a ghost. You know, they say if you sneak in the halls after curfew…”

He kept talking, but I didn’t pay attention, and focused on the plate. It was topped with all sorts of delicious foods. I slowly took mouthful after mouthful, although my stomach got fuller with each bite. Even though the plate wasn’t exactly loaded, it still felt like a mountain of food I had to climb up on. Try as I might to finish it, I couldn’t even make it halfway through. I just stared off into space after the tenth or so bite.

“Aren’t you gonna eat that?” Hans said. “Because if not, then I’ll have it.”

I shook my head, letting him grab the tray.

“Ooh, ooh!” Floatsam said, pawing at the dish. “Dibs on the Magikarp!”

Thankfully, the two made sure the food didn’t go to waste. Yet I continued to sit and stare at absolutely nothing. I wanted to get up and leave, or just do anything else to get my mind flowing again, but I was stuck. For a while, that stillness stayed, until something rushed past my legs, jolting me awake. Shine popped out from underneath the table. At that point, the other two were staring at him.

“U-um,” he said, shrivelling up in the presence of the two. “U-um, I’m, uh, S-S-Shine from the G-GeL base.”

“Yeah, we know,” Hans said, not batting an eye.

“Oh. S-s-orry to bother you. B-but…” He gulped down his fear before continuing to speak. “Curio. What’s wrong?”

I glanced to the side. “N-nothing.” I know that seemed cold, but bear with me, I was doing everything in my power to push those negative thoughts away.

“B-but, I saw you from over there. You s-seemed so unhappy.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“That’s not true.” His tone was a lot more serious that time. “Something happened, didn’t it?”

That got my attention. We exchanged glances, and then, SNAP. The air in the room felt a lot heavier than before. I leapt out of the seat, paws shaking with anger.

“You’re wrong!” I shouted. “Everything’s normal!”

“But, but please, Curio! Tell me what’s going on!”

“Nothing! Just leave me alone!”

At that point, almost everyone stared at us, clearly startled by that sudden outburst. I took one last look at Shine, who whimpered and sniffled, before I stormed off all the way back to the base. It was somewhat calming at first, with all its greens and its blues, but something was off. The sun still shone. The trees still bloomed. Yet it was winter outside.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that room was all fake. How they had the money to do that, I will never know, but that’s not the point. When I saw that and thought back to what Lucy said, then, SNAP again. I screamed, scrambled for the nearest rock I could find and tossed it at the sky in a wide arc. Crack. Part of the sky fizzled, then turned black. A huge blanket of grey covered a nearby patch of grass. All it took was one broken panel for the illusion to completely fall apart.

I punched the ground next, pounding a hole into the topsoil. Then I punched at the trees. I punched anywhere I could, just to get it out of my system. I needed that rush, that little something to make me feel alive, but no matter what I did, I couldn't quell that feeling inside me. After enough time, I collapsed to the floor, panting heavily. My paws twitched, stinging from the hits I doled out. It wasn't enough. It felt like my soul was trying to claw its way out of my body.

Then another thought popped into my head: I needed to draw.

Once I regained my strength, I drew out the sketching kit from the locker and took it back. It was still deathly quiet at the base. I sat by the tree and stared at the blank page, crayon in paw. I knew I needed to draw something, but what exactly, I didn't know. All this power at my paws, and yet I couldn't do jack with it. I'd only filled out half the sketchbook since I got there. Wouldn't bro have wanted me to do as much as I could with it?

That was it. A flash flood of memories washed in from the island. Those got the creative juices flowing. I started drawing a picture of myself on the island, with the trees and the sea all around me. I looked happy, or at least, as happy as you could make a deformed Riolu with two dots and a line for a face. Then I drew my family, side by side together. Even Dad. I drew him playing with the whole family as well, and pushing us on the tire swing, and many other things as well.

In my drawings, I could pretty much do whatever the hell I wanted. If I could've created a world where Dad wasn't so emotionally constipated, I would've. I drew me and Trunks training together. I drew myself comforting Stumpy after a fall. I drew myself listening to one of Mom's stories. These were all on separate pages, by the way.

Again, these drawings weren't very good, but I was putting them out as fast as my memories rushed back in. It was just nice to draw my own worlds, smudge the crayons on the page and try a whole bunch of different textures I hadn't achieved before.

Then, I reached the last page. It only seemed fitting to draw the entire island on its side, as if you were looking at it from the view of a boat. The blues and greens were all encompassing. I did as much as I could on that page, making sure to fill all of it out before I stopped. When I finished it, I closed the sketchbook and clutched it in my arms. I'd finished Mom's sketchbook at last. But that was one of the only pieces I had left of the island aside from the crayons. No photos of them. No chance to say goodbye. Nothing. It all hit me at once.

I burst into tears. Like Stumpy, I wailed in the air, not caring about who would've listened, if anyone was in the base.

It finally sunk in that my family was gone. They weren't dead or anything, and thank his white ass they weren’t, otherwise I don't think I would've coped at all. It still felt like death in a way, since I'd probably never see them again. They were the reason I came to GeL, for better or for worse, and they drove me to learn more than most Pokemon would, and grow into a smart, strong Lucario. And they were gone. What would be the point after that?

I didn't even notice that Shine came in until he bunched up close to me. I didn't even know it was him; I just cried into his coat, tears, snot and all. Tiny shocks pricked at my face, but I didn't care. Having someone to comfort me was enough.

"Curio," Shine said, "I'm sorry."

I pulled away from him, catching a glimpse of his sullen face. I tried to talk, but all that came out was basically babble. Someone else's tail wrapped around my back.

"Yo, Curio," Hans said, "It's alright. You got us."

I sniffled, and rubbed my face clean. Another set of paws wrapped around my body. Of all Pokemon, it was the Cubone, or M, as he called himself. The way he looked at me was something I never saw in him before. His eyes radiated a deep, longing sadness. Why exactly: I had no clue at the time. It was clear, though, he must've gone through some of that familial pain himself. Finally, I pulled all of them in for a hug, forming whatever words I could.

"Thank... you..."

By that time, everyone had come into the base: not just the domestic and GeLborn subjects, but some of the mediators as well. Lucy was back as well, and watched from far away, waiting for the appropriate time to speak.

Shine, Hans and M pulled away, giving me some space to gather myself. Once I dried my eyes and sorted out that inner muddle, I sat up. It was there that Lucy hovered to the centre of the base, and outstretched her leafy green arms.

"Everyone," she said, "As I explained, Curio is going through a major hardship in her life. If you have anything you want to say to comfort her, choose your words carefully, and make sure it comes from the right place. I won't keep you here if you don't have anything to add, but please, it would be a massive help to her, at least until Azzy comes back from the island. I'll be here to

mediate the situation in case anything gets out of hand. Now, decide what you want to do."

A few of the other mediators and subjects left, including that Abra, who had named himself Abraxas. It was for the best. If I saw his face for any longer, I probably would've flipped. The rest stayed, and the Ponyta, who had named herself Fernes, was the first to come forward.

"I'm sorry," she said, tilting her head. "I can imagine your pain."

"But," I said, standing up, "Didn't you say you lost your Mama?"

"Well, yes. I got separated. That means I lost them. That doesn’t mean they died."

I opened my mouth to speak, but made no comment. Hans took the words out of my mouth and cackled, rolling on his back. Lucy was about to interrupt, staring daggers at him, when he pulled himself together and honked Fernes’ snout.

"Oh mon," he said, "That woulda been nice to know before! We didn't say nothin' all this time cause we thought you'd--"

"Yes, I'm sorry!" she snapped. "Sometimes, I don't say what I mean."

"You can say that again."

"Let me catch a break for once, honestly." She looked back to me and bowed. "But I know how it feels to be separated from the ones you love. It feels like there's a hole in your heart. Do you feel the same way?"

I touched the tip of my chest and nodded. Well, it ached because of all the time I spent crying, but same difference. I saw Fernes in a new light after that, then thought back to whenever I saw her focused during class. She would always pay attention and read with a lot of patience, while I'd usually get bored within five minutes and do something else. Making my family proud was one motivating thought, but they were gone. Then how would I manage?

"Ferny," I said, then covered my mouth. "Sorry. Mind if I call you Ferny?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, so, all this time, you had the feelin' your family was still alive, but never had to see them again. Yet you came here and you own each lesson. How'd you do it?"

She hummed to herself, then snorted as smoke came out her nose. "I just knew I had a future here. It was either that or starve on my own, so you have my tutor to thank for that. Wherever they are, I'd like to think they're proud of me. They don't have to be there for me to think that way."

"That's..." I sniffled again. "That's awesome."

Basil came forward next, and gently licked my face. While it was still kinda gross, I laughed, so he knew what he was doing.

"If you're ever feeling homesick, come to me. There's plenty there you'd like. And just pretend Abraxas isn't in the room."

I smiled and nodded.

"Seriously, screw that guy." The Sneasel, who had named himself PZ, flashed his sharp teeth. "But yeah, give the GameCube a shot whenever you're around. I can't wait to thrash your ass at Melee."

I didn't know what he meant by that, but I took it on the chin. Shine and the Pachirisu, who had called himself Patches, bunched up closer and hugged me. It made my fur stick on its end, but it was worth it.

"Please," Shine said, "If you ever want to talk, I'm here for you."

"Don't forget me!" Patches said.

"And us!" Hans and Floatsam said together. They were right. I had friends there in GeL already. If they were willing to show that much support, then it would help fill the void left behind by my family's departure. Not completely, but it would make it a bit less painful. I smiled through my tears and pulled all of them in for a hug.

"Y-you guys. Thanks a bunch..."

The rest sort of dispersed from there. and everyone went back to their own bases, except for Shine. The rest huddled around me as I showed them some of the drawings I did, just to pass the time. They all seemed interested. Even M, who called it a waste of time before. He changed his tune pretty quickly, it seemed. Lucy still watched from afar. That was, until Azzy rushed in with a box in his paws. He laid it at the centre, which left me confused until he embraced me and started crying. Now that was a first.

"Curio!" he said. "I-I'm so sorry! If I'd-- If I had-- Oh, dammit, it's all my fault! If I'd come sooner, I'd, I'd--"

"That's enough." Lucy pulled him away from me, grabbing him by his shoulders. "It was out of your control, Azzy, now please, collect yourself."

"But, but, we could've--"

"I said, enough. We'll talk about this later. Tell her what you found, then go back to the staff room. Then, we'll discuss what needs to be done. Is that clear?"

His tears formed a puddle at his feet. Now damn, water types certainly could cry. He gathered himself after enough time, and turned around, bowing as if nothing happened.

"Ms. Riolu," he said, "Right there is a box with your family's possessions inside them. They wanted to give this to you before they left, so everything that was theirs is now yours. Do what you want with it. If you'll excuse me."

Lucy nodded, and she led him out of the room. I sat still for a moment. I didn't exactly know how to take that. At least then, I had more pieces of home to keep with me at GeL. But what, exactly? From what I remembered of that paw-patterned box, it just had lots of trinkets and shinies in it.

The others stared curiously at the box, until I did the honour of lifting the lid. To my surprise, there was more in it than I remembered.

The first things that caught my eye, of course, were two books. The first, I immediately recognised from the black cover, and the writing, now legible to me, named Sinnohan Myths and Fables. The other was much more scrappy looking with bits of paper sticking out of them.

I opened that one first, which revealed lots of different photos of Mom and Trunks together embedded into the sheets, which finally gave me a glimpse of their travels together. They stood in front of tall buildings, they posed with different humans who were delighted to take pictures with them, as well as shots of all the different dishes they tried. Now, it's kind of funny to think of how they posed for some of those shots, either by rushing into the frame or asking a human to take it for them, somehow, but whatever.

One final picture caught me eye in particular, which was of a forest with the view of the city in the horizon, where Mom, Trunks, and even Dad were there, smiling together. He actually seemed happy in that photo, for once, which was something I rarely saw. That was how I liked to imagine him, without all the shouting and dirty laundry he left piled up and unaired.

The other new thing in the box was a picture frame of the family together on the island, even Liam, smiling as well, with a note on the back which signed 'AZZY'. I guess he must've had it waiting for me as a present.

Finally, there was this black box with buttons on it, or otherwise, a cassette player, and a pair of earphones attached, with another note that said 'LISTEN', with the play symbol drawn on it. I wanna say something about how hard it is to listen to something through headphones with ears like mine, but I shouldn't get too distracted. This is important after all. I pressed play, and I heard the voice of Mama coming through those tiny speakers.

"Hello, Riolu dearie," Mom said. I heard the shuffling of several things at the back. "I don't know how to express this, but if you're listening to this, it means we've headed out of the island. I'm so, terribly sorry about this. I know it's sudden. Really sudden. If there was a better option, I would've waited it out until Azzy came back here, but it's getting desperately cold over here, so we'd rather not take any chances.

"I know you met Cecrops back when you were still here, but he warns us that the ocean's going to be frozen over, so we're going with him before he and his school of Magikarp migrate to warmer waters. We'll probably be heading for Canalave City, but we'll most likely be travelling further, so if you ever get out of there, I can't guarantee we'll be in any place you're looking for. We definitely won’t be back at the island ever again. But at least I can say, if you're worried about our safety, you can put those thoughts to rest. We're a hardy bunch; we'll find our way somehow.

"I can't imagine how you must be feeling without us. I expect it'll be very tough where you are, and with our departure, it'll be even tougher. But you're not alone. You'll probably have friends there as well to help you. But no matter what happens, you must stay strong and get on with your studies. If you get this message and take my words to heart, that's enough to make me proud for the rest of my days. In the box, I've given you our photo album, and a book containing a lot of different stories. Even though I wasn't the best at reading, it helped me come up with my own tales, so if you ever want to make your own one day to tell around the campfire, or with your friends, learn to read those. Oh, I can hear your younger brothers whinging again, so I should probably pass you over to them."

She shuffled the recorder around until it landed in the paws of Stumpy, who sobbed into the microphone.

"I-I-I'll miss you so much, sis! I thought it was hard without you here before, but, but!"

He was full on wailing, as well as Twig. Even in that situation, I had to laugh. Sounds odd, I know. But I guess it was a comfort to hear they hadn't changed. The recorder shuffled again.

"Hello, sis." It was Trunks. His tone was flat, but he kept his composure. "I'm sorry about this. I would've loved to hear how you were doing back there. But I'll know you'll make the best out of your time there. I have no doubt in my mind Azzy will lead you to the path you want to take. If it's of any comfort, I'm glad to leave the island at last. I know the human world wasn't made for us in mind, but I'll try my best to do what I can over there." Suddenly, he let out a hearty laugh, which was rare for him. "I guess I can say you inspired me in a way."

He gasped, and I recognised the gruff breathing in the background. "Dad. Do you want to use the recorder as well?"

Liam grunted, and the recorder shuffled once more.

"Hello, cub. Oh, sorry. It doesn't feel right calling you that anymore. You've grown a lot since I last saw you at the island. Your older brother and the rest as well. You've really had an impact on them." He aimed it at Stumpy and Twigs, who were still blubbering. "Although they might still have a few things to learn. But you must know that right now, I couldn't be happier for you. And your mother as well. If you were worried about us before, you'll be pleased to know we're getting on well with one another. No matter what happens, we'll stick with each other through thick and thin. I'll try to be stronger and a better Mon for you and our family."

From there, he passed it onto Mom, who wished me hugs and kisses, as did the rest of my family before they returned the recorder back to the box. After the tape stopped, I sniffled, but smiled, turning to Shine for comfort. I squeezed him tightly, and he stood still, being the sponge for my emotional outpour. I cried again, but this time, the heaviness in my heart had been lifted.

I knew I wasn't going to get over it immediately, but at least I'd be safe in the knowledge that my family from the outside, and my friends in the facility watched over me.


	23. Missing Home

**(Well, I’m sorry to hear that happened, but I’m glad you were able to pull through in the end. To be honest, I was a bit anxious about how that would turn out, although I think I heard hints of it from Shine, if I recall.)**

How much?

**(I might’ve told him bits and pieces, but still only vague memories.)**

Okay.

**(So, what happened after that?)**

Well, that was pretty much the highlight of the first year, to be honest. There's not really much to say. I took my studies a lot more seriously, and just got along with everyone else in my clique, so there wasn’t much drama aside from that yellow guy.

Okay, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. As much as I kind of overreacted at first to the news before, the fact my family moved away still stung; sometimes, coming in the form of nightmares. I’d sort of make up stories about them dying out there and their ghosts revisiting me, or think about them settling in a new fancy place and saying how glad they were to abandon me while I watched from outside their windows. Whenever that happened, I’d wake up in the middle of the night and stare up at the fake sky until it was morning, which sometimes screwed up my studies for the rest of the day.

As well as that, sometimes, the homesickness got to me as well. Not too long after I got the news, on one day off, I guess I got a bit sentimental and started sifting through the photo-book again. I’d already done that a few times before, but no matter how many times I looked at the same photos of my family smiling together, it wasn’t enough to bring them close to me.

That hollow feeling grew in my stomach again. I thought I was about to burst again, then remembered Basil’s words from before. So I decided to venture out of the wild base and creep my way into the domestic base with all its gadgets and such. Everyone was there, even Abraxas, who stared at me when I entered, holding a book in one claw. I could tell he was about to make yet another snide comment about my size or my brains, but before he could, Basil stepped in and took my paw, leading me to an area with cushions where we sat on opposite sides.

“You alright?” he asked.

I nodded slowly, although by the look of his face and his aura, it seemed he knew what I was going through.

“Missing home again?”

“Yeah. I know I shouldn’t dwell on it, but it still kind of stinks.”

“There, there.” He patted my shoulder. Suddenly, though, a set of paws glomped over me.

“Awww!” a femme voice said, “You poor thing, you! There, there, I’m gonna make it all better!”

I nudged whoever it was out of the way, and there, I saw the Chansey, or rather, Pecha. We never really talked in class before, so I didn’t know what to expect from her, but she kept on fawning over me as if I was some wounded Eevee. She reached out to my cheeks and started pulling on it.

“Um, stop, please?” I said.

“But you’re so cute! I wanna put you in my pouch and take you home with me!”

“Now, now, Pecha,” Basil said, pulling her away. “There is such a thing as personal space. If you want to tug on another Mon’s face, do it to someone who’s a bit more willing.”

“Okay!” She started pulling on Basil’s face instead, kneading it as if it was a wad of bubblegum. Basil glanced over to me as Pecha worked her magic. “Sorry, she gets a little touchy sometimes.”

“It’s fine,” I said with a smile. Even if she did come off a bit too strong, it made me smile anyway, so my mood improved a bit. Once Pecha was done and returned to the corner where she played with a Roselia, Basil’s face lit up.

“Oh, I know just the thing!” he said. After waddling to one corner, he came back with a box of colourful, round thingies. “Go ahead, try one!”

I pawed a pink one for a bit, feeling weirded out by the spongy texture, until I took a bite for myself. Of course, it was delish.

“Thith if nithe!” I said mid-bite, then remembered my manners and swallowed. “Sorry, they kept saying I shouldn’t talk with my mouth full.”

“I won’t judge,” he said, grinning, “But I’m glad you like it anyway.”

“Yeah, so what is it?”

“Oh, they’re Pokepuffs my trainer sent me, although you could easily call them _macaroons._ _Macarons?_ Hey, Abraxas!”

I cringed when he called that name out. Nevertheless, it got the yellow devil’s attention.

“What’s the difference between _macaroons_ and _macarons_?”

“Hmph,” he scoffed as he flipped through the dictionary. “ _Macaroons_ are delectable almond biscuits, while _macarons_ are sumptuous meringue confectioneries. I thought you’d know the difference, seeing how you’re not some wildling.”

“Alright, alright.” He growled at him before turning back to me. “ _Macarons_ it is, then. The human language is weird.”

“You’re telling me.” I shrugged off Abraxas’ comment and continued. “But anyway, your trainer sent these? So you’re still with her?”

“Why, yes, I get calls from her every month.” He frowned. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up like that, since, you know.”

“No worries,” I said, “So what’s she like?”

“Well…” His face brightened up, if you could imagine a shade of pink brighter than pink itself. “She’s very supportive, and always knows what to say whenever we speak over the phone. We still got along when we were together, but now I actually have time to learn to speak her language, we’ve gotten so much closer. I can’t wait to meet her again once I’ve finished my studies here.”

“So, if you already had a trainer, why’d you come here?”

“To learn, of course. I don’t just want to help my trainer cook, I want to become a chef as well as master the human tongue. As much as I love my trainer, she has to battle to stay afloat, and that takes time. The rest of my team is fine with that, but with me, I’d like to explore my own passions, which doesn’t really mesh well with the trainer lifestyle, not unless you have a lot saved up.”

I cocked my head. “I don’t get it, sorry. Why’d you need to save up?”

“Alright, I understand. Money is a bit hard to wrap even my head around. But, um...” He looked from left to right, before he spotted something in one of his corners. “Why don’t I show you an example?”

Basil went to one part of the room to gather a photo of his, which he showed of himself and his trainer, posing for some sort of prize as they held up a ribbon. That trainer kind of reminded me of the girl I saw on the island as she radiated that same friendly look.

“Here,” Basil said, “We won first place for best presentation at a Pokemon contest, which they held in all the cities we visited. We put all our food on display, which I helped make, and that scored well with the judges, so we ended up coming home with the big prize. She was so happy after all the work we put into it together.”

He put the frame down and rubbed his paws nervously. “That took a lot of prep, though. We had to save up a lot of earnings beforehand from battling other trainers to enter the competition and make all that food. Even after we won the prize of a hundred thousand Pokedollars, that money doesn’t last forever. It goes quickly on more food, medicine, camping equipment, battle equipment, transport, entry fees…”

Basil kept going on and on. I chomped on what was left of the puff as a distraction. I imagine I went cross-eyed at all the new concepts he flung my way, as I still didn’t have a good grasp on what it meant to be a trainer’s Pokemon, but I got the point anyway. In dumb man’s terms, training is expensive business. Thankfully, he stopped after enough time.

“But anyway, one of the staff members here came by chance and we discussed it together. She knew I wanted more out of this, so when they mentioned cooking, she was ecstatic. After going through all the paperwork, they took me in.”

I hummed. It was still a lot to take in, but I got a better idea of what the Lickitung was doing there.

“You sound like you’ve got your whole life planned, you know.” I smiled sadly. “I dunno what the heck I’m doing. Before, doing what bro said was fine, but now, it’s just, eh.”

“Don’t say that. You draw, don’t you?”

I nodded.

“Well, when you think about it, cooking is a form of art in a way. You take inspiration from the world around you, craft it with your paws and turn it into something viewable or edible. That feeling when you can just bring something to life like that is magical to me, more than just psychic powers.”

“I heard that!” Abraxas interrupted. Basil just blew a large-tongued razzberry at him. Served him right. What took me off guard though was how the Lickitung leaned in and grabbed my shoulders, gently, but firmly.

“We’re very lucky here. Most Pokemon wouldn’t feel the same way about creating the sort of stuff we do. It’s a tough world out there, after all. But once you have that drive and stick with it all the way through until the bitter end, it’ll give your life so much more meaning than you might realise. Got that?”

That took me off guard. I don’t know whether he read my mind or not at the time, and no, Lickitung can’t as far as I know, but what he said sounded like the sort of advice Trunks used to give me, which I saw a lot of truth in. Hearing that finally inspired to get back to drawing again after a long period of silence, and took my mind off the lurking feeling of dread following my family’s departure. Not completely, mind you, but it gave me less time to sit and ponder the what ifs and could’ve beens. Is beens even a word?

**(Not really.)**

Then, out of nowhere, something icy pricked my back. I yelped and jumped out of my cushion. Someone snickered nearby.

“Gotcha,” PZ said. “That’s yer initiation into our lil’ club!”

“What club?” Basil asked. “The scare-friendly-mon-away-with-your-ice-powers club?”

“Nope!” He grinned. “I haven’t come up with a name, but it’s somethin’. Anyway, c’mere.” He put his claw on my shoulder. “I got somethin’ to show ya.”

Before I could say anything, he pulled me away from Basil, and sat me in front of that TV while he fiddled around that purple cube.

“Um,” I said, “What’s this about?”

“Here.” He shoved a case in my paws, and on the front was a flashy cover filled with all sorts of colourful characters, including Pokemon. “It’s that Melee game I was talkin’ about on that GameCube.”

“Game?” I cocked my head. Yeah, believe it or not, I hadn’t come across a game’s console before, or known what it was. “Don’t you usually play that outside?”

“Yeah, well, you’ll get it soon.” He sat down beside me and handed me a weird looking device of some sort, or a controller. Come to think of it, GameCube controllers are really weird when you compare it to everything else. I got you were supposed to press buttons, like the remote control for the TV Azzy used, but still, it didn’t feel natural in my paws. It clearly wasn’t designed for someone without five human fingers, but if that was the case, then how the hell did a Sneasel manage it just fine with two claws? I guessed it was something I had to get used to, just like drawing.

PZ clicked his teeth and went through the various menus before pointing at the screen. “Use that stick thingy and choose a character.”

There were quite a few to choose from, though I didn’t know what the hell any of them were aside from the actual Pokemon to choose from. There was this green dino guy that kept repeating his name like everyone else, but he clearly wasn’t a Pokemon. Out of the ones to choose from, there was Pikachu, Pichu and Jigglypuff, which all seemed familiar, but then, there was Mewtwo. It sounded and looked vaguely like Mew, which I heard about in the series, but as far as I knew, Mewtwo was nowhere in the real Pokedex, as that was something our teacher went through. I just picked Pikachu. Yeah, I know, obvious choice, sue me. It’s not as if I’m the one to talk, being a Lucario, though I think they only introduced my kind in Brawl later.

**(Sorry, Curio. I won’t stop you from talking, but where are you going with this?)**

Eh, you’ll find out soon enough.

“Hey,” I said, “Might be a stupid question, but what is Mewtwo? Are they even real?”

“Nope, just something they made for the games,” he said, with a hint of sadness. “Would be awesome, though. He’s got a kickass backstory. Was made by scientists in an experimental lab or somethin’, then wrecked their _shit_ and flew away! It’d rock if I were like him.”

There was that human cuss again. He liked to use it a lot, believe me. I didn’t really know how to take that and just mumbled a reply. Still, it would’ve been awesome if someone like Mewtwo existed. He always struck me as cool, you know.

PZ picked Mewtwo, and in a matter of seconds, we were pitted in an arena against each other. Before I even knew what I was doing, he started attacking me, using a variety of techniques, not unlike a Pokemon fight, except not real, of course. I frantically mashed the buttons, hoping I would get a hit, but whenever I did, a red sphere emerged, and he blocked my attack. From what I could read, the percentage on my character was getting higher until it got red, until he launched one last attack, sending me careening off the screen. I had lost a life.

“Oh, come on!” I stood up, gathering up pangs of anger. “Lemme attack!”

“You’d be dead if this was a real fight. Get good.”

I tried to move my character out of the way and managed to evade a few attacks. I still needed to get a hit on him, so again, I mashed the buttons, and managed to shoot a jolt of electricity at him, but this victory was short lived. He dodged, rolled, kicked my ass and sent me flying again. One life left. I don’t know why, but it was a lot more frustrating than dealing with an actual fight, probably because you’re not concerned with saving your own bacon.

“Ugh, _shit!_ ” I swore for the first time, out of many times to come in the future.

“Yeah, that’s it!” he said. “Feels good to swear, doesn’t it?!”

“Shut up!” I deflected his comment while I tried to deflect another barrage of attacks. That time, I actually saw what I was doing to my own character and figured out they did different attacks depending on what button you pressed along with the direction of your movement. “Hey, why didn’t you tell me I could do that?”

“Noobs should learn to fight on their own!”

Once I figured that out, I actually got a few more hits on him before he got the edge on me. Then a few more hits. I must’ve accidentally hit one button since that sent him flying off too, making him lose a life, at long last.

“Oh no, you didn’t!”

That victory was short lived. Since I was in the red, after he came back, it only took one more hit for me to lose the match, taking us back to the character select screen.

“That wasn’t fair!” I said, crossing my arms, “I didn’t even know what a game was ‘til now, and you wanted me to beat you?”

“Life ain’t fair,” he said, touching my chest with his claw. “I know cuz’ I’ve been there.”

I stopped to stare at his various scars, some of which covered his belly. “What happened?”

“Eh.” He crossed his legs. “I ain’t gonna tell you some tragic backstory or anythin’, but I got thrown into the deep end pretty early on, you know. It’s a lot different in the cities than in the wild, ya know. Strays can be pretty _effing_ vicious. I know, since I was one of them.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know how to take that, or if I could’ve even trusted PZ at that point. He must’ve seen my face since he chuckled.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite. I ain’t never been much of a fighter, so if I wanna kick your ass, I can just get you to play this game.” He turned back to the screen. “When I thought I had nothin’, games helped me get through those tough times. Like real life, I got good on my own, ya know.”

“Then why’d you come here?”

“Eh, maybe I could make these games too at some point. Might just be wishful thinkin’ for a dumb Mon like me, but screw it. I’ll take one chance over none.”

“Well said, PZ,” Basil said, joining us, “But if you want to keep a playmate, you should at least teach her how to do it so she has a fighting chance.”

“Alright, alright.” He flicked a claw at him. “We can go into training mode, then have a rematch. How’s that sound?”

“Great!” I pumped my fist in the air. “I’m gonna wreck your _shit!_ ”

So we ended up playing until dinner calls came around, and although I got scolded for breaking into another base, it was worth it in the end.

**(So, what was the point of that again?)**

Well, Shine would have kind of a good idea, wouldn’t you? You know what he did, right?

**(Vaguely.)**

Well then. There’s that. But some time passed after that. We got some lessons in evolution from the Medicham, who told us we’d only have to evolve when we want to, and could, in theory, stay a Riolu or a Shinx forever if we wanted to, ya dig? Sorry, couldn’t resist. I liked the way he talked. But after that, some of them started evolving, including Abraxas, who became a Kadabra, at double the height and double the pissant he was. I think the Munchlax was a bit worried about turning into a Snorlax, and I could see why. If that happened indoors, he’d probably find it really hard to get through doors without breaking a new hole through the frame.

Even more time passed. I won’t prattle on much more, since most of the year after that family drama was just growing up in the facility, but I should probably mention something else before we jump ahead a bit. Even after that pep talk from Basil, that didn’t really stop the nightmares. I had a particularly bad one about, er, something. I don’t remember this time. I think I was trying to listen to another one of Mom’s stories, but the words were all wrong and her voice was all distorted. That one in particular got me a bit teary-eyed, and yet, it was in the middle of the night where the fake sky was turned off to save power.

Everyone else was fast asleep. Yet no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t lull myself back to that. My heart felt heavy and my throat felt sore. Then an idea popped in my head. Not a very good idea, since that meant sneaking through the hallways after curfew, but I needed to be a bit selfish for once. I wanted Shine to read to me, just to bring back that little, innocent moment earlier in my childhood.

I picked up the myth book from my stash and ventured into the deep, dark corridors. Except they weren't really dark. For that matter, there were dim lights everywhere, not so bright that it overpowered the insides, but enough that you could see where you were going even without the see-in-the-dark vision I had. Since my presence was still there I listened out for anyone that might've been on the watch: footsteps, pawpads, anything that gave me a hint that there were staff walking around. Zilch. Must’ve been a slow day for them.

The hallways pulsed with the hum of electricity coming from the lights. It didn't steady the beating of my heart from my nightmares, but I crept through the corridors in any case, searching for those checkerboard walls, through one corridor and another. I padded through the hallway, and on the next turn, there was another corridor, with a sign that pointed to the checkered hallway and said ‘GeLborn Nursery’. I grinned. All that time spent, trying not to fall asleep in those human language classes suddenly paid off.

I padded through the last corridor, and after that, I’d be able to meet Shine again, even if it meant waking him up. All I needed to do was walk through the hallway to the left. But suddenly, straight ahead of me, a bright, purple ball of energy popped out from one of the walls. What I saw made my heart stop.

Can I get a drum roll, please? No? Alright then, feel free to cut this part out. It was a Gastly.

My body froze. I'd never seen a ghost type before; maybe in that show, but not for real. It looked at me once, then flashed a Scary Face, like something from one of my nightmares. Even after all the crap I've been through to get here in this room, I never forgot the first time I saw that tortured look on its face, eyes bulging, like it'd seen a ghost, or a ghost's ghost, if you'd like.

I freaking bricked it. I didn’t care if anybody heard me, I just ran as fast as I could until I charged through the GeLborn door and slammed it shut behind me. By then, everybody else was awake, including Shine.

“Huh?” he muttered, half-awake, “W-what’s—”

“Guys! Guys!” I yelled, trying to explain what I just saw, “There was this purple thing that came out of the walls and I dunno what it is but it looks scary and I thought it was gonna kill me and—”

“Shut up!” the Bidoof named Bang yelled, burying himself in the pillows, “I’m trying to sleep here!”

“B-b—but… I-I’m—” Why that encounter almost made me crap my pants of all things, I have no clue, but I bit back my fear and bundled up close to Shine. He turned to me and yawned, with those glowy eyes of his shining in the dark.

“Shine?” I whispered. “Help.”

“Um,” he muttered, “W-what’s wrong?”

“I can’t sleep. I had another bad dream.”

“Oh, um, sorry to hear that.”

There was a pause between us.

“Sorry,” I said, “Didn’t mean to wake everyone up, ya know. It’s just, I couldn’t help it this time.”

“T-that’s fine. Um, sometimes, I get these weird dreams too. Poor Patches has to deal with my sorry behind whenever that happens, don’t you?”

“Mmm-hmm,” the Pachirisu muttered in his ball of fluff. “This guy’s a pawful, alright. Though give yerself a lil’ credit, you’ve come a long way.”

“Mmm!” Milly said. “You’re actually fun this time!”

“Oh.” Shine let out a nervous laugh. “Um, thanks.”

**(Just to interrupt, Milly usually hassled me to play with her dolls, and I’d just usually play along. It was actually kind of fun, roleplaying as someone else in whatever little stories she came up with. I still roleplay every now and then, at least online.)**

Roleplaying? Isn’t that for nerds?

**(And can you say much, considering how much you talk about films and figurines?)**

Eh, point taken.

He shook that comment off and glanced at the storybook. “That’s your mother’s book, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” I held it to my chest and squeezed it tightly. “I miss mama’s stories sometimes, ya know. If it ain’t too much to ask, but, er, can you read to me?”

He cocked his head.

“Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but I kinda need it. I can read a little bit on my own now, but it just ain’t the same without someone else.”

Even in the dark, his face visibly brightened, and the doodad on the end of his tail swished back and forth. “Yes, I’d love to. We’d need to turn the light on, though.”

“Put that ceiling light on and you’re dead meat,” Bang said, “That one’s way too bright.”

“Oh, I got it.” Patches grunted, and the back of his fur bristled with all sorts of sparks, until a glowing fur ball suddenly popped out from his coat. It brought a little light into the room, which would be enough for him to read from.

“Wish I could do that,” Shine said.

“You’ll get there in time,” Patches said, “Though I think I’d find one of your glowing hairballs kinda gross.”

Shine grumbled, but gestured for me to lie down on the pillows while he flicked through the pages. When I got comfortable, I opened one eye and saw him focused on the text. He seemed so confident right then and there.

“Shine?” I said.

“Yes?”

“Um, thanks for everything.”

He smiled and stopped on one page. Now, I don’t exactly remember the story off by heart, since I fell asleep halfway through, and in all fairness, young me would’ve been bored to sleep by the story anyway if I got past the Arceus part. If you have the book lying about somewhere though, Shine, please read it out.

**(Oh, right, I do! I’ll get it quickly, and… there. Ahem, the story is called Foreword: Excerpt from 6,000,000,000,000 Years Before the First.**

**Consider the following.**

**In a place without form or void, an egg hatched, and evolved into a being later known as Arceus. From both its divine light and shadow painted tendrils, it created Dialga and Palkia, time and space, and focused on one fixed point in the universe to form what would later be known as Earth. For life to exist, there must first be a host, after all. For life to exist, there must be a measurement where all can be birthed, live for one cycle, then decompose. For life to exist, there must be the chemicals that allow the elements to mix, and become material objects and beings. All tangible concepts, yet made from something so intangible.**

**Again, with its thousand hands, Arceus shaped the Earth through a series of natural phenomena. The earthquakes shaped the land. The atmospheres made the skies. The precipitation from the skies made the seas. Even before life as we know it existed by Mew's creation, Arceus created Azelf, Uxie and Mespirit, the three of which symbolise willpower, knowledge and emotion. All abstract concepts, yet capable of making the intangible tangible.**

**It is said they retreated to the respected lakes Valor, Acuity and Verity. At one point, Heatran was also formed as well. With all the necessary components for life to exist and inhabit its host, Arceus retreated into the aether, and the Legendaries slept along with them.**

**This is the most common interpretation of how the world was formed. However, I must address you, reader, and ask you to read between the lines.**

**To imagine a place without form or void, and for life to eventually come into being out of nothing, is incomprehensible. It is like writing words onto a set of parchment, but without the ink, the pen or the paper to make such a thing possible. For any creation to exist without a creator itself is also unimaginable. It is like trying to create a word without any of the oral history that came before it, or even a voice to express it.**

**For Dialga and Palkia to manipulate time and space respectively, they must be physical concepts. But time and space are both abstractions of different natures. Time is an illusion, created to define its passage from day to night, to moon and earth cycles at a fixed point. Space is a mathematical construct, created after aeons of years of research into physical distance. None can truly be grasped.**

**Even more confusing is the myth of Giratina, the Pokemon banished to the distortion world, that represents antimatter, and therefore has the ability to travel between dimensions. To grasp just one universe is enough of a herculean task by itself; to grasp an infinite amount of universes afterwards, and to split apart the fabric of reality to transit between others, is impossible.**

**And if, for the sake of argument, such a thing was possible, what would be on the other end of the wormhole? A different version of Earth, perhaps? A completely different planet with a completely different species with no humans or Pokemon inhabiting it? Or just humans with animals stripped of their powers? Perhaps Pokemon on their own?**

**In the end, this is all speculation. But** **for the sake of argument, let us propose an alternative myth.**

**Before the world was split into many different pieces, there was only one continent, known as the Nameless Locus. Arceus still existed, but in a much different form, more akin to a giant, white stalked pyre than a four legged beast. Before humans and Pokemon as we know them today, there were three species that each bore two halves and four sets of legs and arms or forepaws and hindpaws. The first had both human halves, with limbs on each side, front to back, that could either walk forwards or backwards, and formed civilisations of their own. The second had both Pokemon halves, and crawled through the lands like Spinarak with their back halves facing the sky, stalking the wild to hunt their prey. The third and last one, which is now extinct, had one human half and one Pokemon half, capable of both running through the terrain at tremendous speeds and forging materials with their hands. This third species was gifted with both the ferocity of a feral and the cunning of a human.**

**Arceus, one day, grew to hate their own creation, against the will of the other Legendaries who argued otherwise. Uxie, Azelf and Mespirit, all representing willpower, knowledge and emotion, argued with the white god, that their actions would undo aeons of years of progress. The lake trio fought to undo this decision, but once Arceus retaliated, they were overpowered, and banished to a dormant sleep in Valor, Acuity and Verity. With the assistance of Zapdos' lightning and Arceus' divine judgement, all of the halves were split into two, with the human and Pokemon halves separated forever. Not long after, the continents were split into the regions you see today, and after that, Arceus and their Legendaries left this realm behind.**

**It is said that the split halves are soulmates, and that the process of finding a mate is to rekindle that bond, and become whole once again. Humans married other humans and settled into jobs. Pokemon mated with other Pokemon and marked their territories. But what happened to the Pokemon who belonged to human halves, and vice versa? There are humans who feel out of place in their own bodies and wish to roam free in the wild, while there are Pokemon who feel trapped by their own design and wish to shoulder the burdens the humans have. Permanently displaced, not belonging to either civil or feral worlds, they roam the earth, looking for a soulmate or a reason for their own existence, but never find it in the end. For it was never by Arceus' design for the two to become one. Or so they thought.**

**But even this can be held under scrutiny, as the body is made of bones, organs and muscles, while the soul is another fiction. But then, how does aura or ghost types exist?**

**With that in mind, if the myths of the creators can be disproved, then what can be taken away from this foreword?**

**That there is no definite truth. The only common thread between all of these myths is that in the end, the Gods will sleep, and man and Pokemon will be left to develop on their own in time. For no one has seen trace of, or seen physical evidence of a Legendary since even before the first history books or the first Unown hieroglyphs were written in dead languages. For one cannot document the truth if they existed after the creators vanished with no trace of their whereabouts. It cannot be universal.**

**However, even if it is not universal, it does not make it devoid of meaning. The idea of a creator, or the concept of a story has inspired entire civilisations to create their own philosophies, and pass them from generation to generation. Of course, with each telling, the story becomes more warped, until it becomes divorced from its original meaning. The illustration you see before you of Arceus, is a human representation of what the creator was supposed to have looked like, after thousands of designs were thrown out and retooled.**

**Even this very book you’re reading is a product of many fictions collated together, as well as many different folk tales, historical documents and anecdotes stitched to create a story with arcs, morals and characters representing ideals in man and Pokemon. They do not reflect an absolute truth, or hint at a real person or Pokemon’s events, but they do reflect emotional truths nonetheless.**

**To you, dear reader, who chances upon this book, I request of you to draw your own conclusions and seek your own truths from these following tales. Question whose stories you listen to. Question the history books you read. Question the gospel of those who might challenge your world view. It is the reason humanity has progressed to the point it has. Pokemon, however, have yet to climb as high as human civilizations as of this writing.**

**But to those Pokemon who are capable of reading, or listening to someone who reads the words you hear, question the words of your human superiors. Bite the hands that feed you. Strive to create your own societies, cultures and art forms, and defy those who try to define you as mere beasts.**

**Foreword and Sinnohan Myths and Fables by Delray X. Phoebus.)**


	24. Blue and Yellow//Ambrette's Interruption

So a lot of time passed and not much happened. I got better at the human tongue, found more time for drawing, and got along well with my friends without much drama. That was pretty much it. I’ve waffled on enough, so let’s jump to a week or so before the second year began.

Azzy told us what to expect from the next bout of lessons, where we would have more freedom to explore our own interests and choose the sort of lessons we wanted to pick, and when left to our own devices in the class, there was a lot of excited discussion from every subject in our group. Out of our wild pack, I was the only one that roughly knew what we wanted to do, which was to learn art. Hans cheered me on, and even M, who had evolved into an Ambipom and Marowak respectively, seemed accepting of the idea. From the other side of the room, I saw Shine and Patches talking amongst themselves, so I approached them.

“Do you guys know what you wanna do?”

“Well, yeah, but it’s a secret,” Patches said with a wink, “It’s kinda weird, take my word for it. This guy, on the other paw…”

Shine sighed and laid on the floor. “My head hurts just thinking about it. Everyone sounds like they have so many interests like you do, Curio, yet I’m stuck without any idea about where to start. What am I going to do when the next year comes and I haven’t thought about anything? What if I disappoint Azzy? Am I going to fail, or be kicked out, or--”

“Hey,” I said, patting his increasingly-frazzled head. “You’re thinkin’ about this way too much, just relax.”

“I can’t relax, I don’t have anything about me that sticks out! I’m completely boring!”

“So? That doesn’t matter, the rest of my team don’t know what they’re doin’ either. What’re you good at, anyway?”

“Nothing.”

“Keep that up,” Patches said, tugging at his ear, “And I’ll zap ya! I thought we went past this, already. You can read better than most of the Pokemon here already, why aren’t you proud of that?”

“Ow!” Shine said, pulling away from that blue imp, “Alright, alright, I can read well, please let go!”

Patches did as told and Shine got to his feet, although he still looked sad with those drooping eyes of his, and his aura was full of turmoil again. I just gave him a head pat at this point. He seemed to like those.

“See? There you go. You can stop worrying now, you doof.”

“Doof? I’m not a doof.”

“You are, in a good way.” I pulled away. “Look, I love it when you read. Your stories are always interestin’. Besides, I think they’re gonna talk with us to find out what we want, so I think none of us will be left out. And if you are, I’ll come join ya. We’ll be misfits together, won’t we?”

Rarely for him, he actually smiled at the suggestion, and a part of that dampening feeling went away, like a curse had been lifted. True, it slipped my mind not long after, since I got carried away by the excitement of the year ending. For our first big celebration, I guess, we were all ordered to go into one large room where a photo guy told us to stand still for him to take a group picture of us. With all the different varieties of Pokemon there of varying egos and sizes, you could imagine it was hard getting us all in one shot.

I stood still, smiling plainly at the camera. Some like Hans made a series of silly faces even though they hadn’t taken the shot yet. Some like M refused to cooperate at first, stepping outside the frame before being ordered back. Patches had to get Shine to look up to the guy as he was still lost in thought. Then, there was this weird old biddy and her Mismagius that stood to one side, waiting for the shot, which I stared curiously at. Then, she drew a Pokeball out and out came that Gastly. It was so sudden, I almost lost balance and toppled to the floor, though I had Hans to support me with that tail of his, as if on instinct. It took minutes for her to get the Gastly to float in one place and not smoke everybody out, including me, and I tried my best to ignore it as I made my best pose for the shot.

All things considered, we had a good time that day, as it was nice seeing everybody bunched up into one place. They arranged a little party for us with lots of treats and stuff, so that was a bonus. I wish I actually saw the photo or got to take it with us, but we never did. Either that or it was brought up so casually that none of us remembered it.

But yeah, that leads into when the second year actually started. We were summoned to the lecture room again, where everyone was: the mediators, the students, even the old guy Cartwright and that Gardevoir Lucy. That was the first time I saw them in ages, and they looked pretty much the same as before, except Lucy had a new dress this time. Where she got all of them from, I wasn’t sure, but just don’t ask me about fashion advice. She hovered and helped the old man to the podium, where they both presented themselves to speak.

“"Humans and Pokémon alike," they spoke in their respective tongues again, “You have all done an excellent job so far, and for that, we thank you as we head towards our second year.”

They gestured to the row of humans.

“All of you studying here have produced fantastic work. Not only have some of you worked closely with our beloved Pokemon, listening to them and guiding them through tough times, you have also given insightful observations and papers on the research gathered so far, and we sincerely hope you can keep this up in the future. And then you subjects in question...”

They moved their hands to our row.

“You have also done exceptionally well. It is a huge step for Pokemon to conquer their own limits, learning what some human children might learn in a matter of two years. So far, you have proven the rest of the world wrong by coming here to learn so much about ours. To speak like humans, to learn like humans, and to read like humans, is all extraordinary, and for the second year, we have so much planned ahead for you.

Not only will you be able to access the library and gym in your spare time now, you shall also start choosing the subjects you’re most interested in, and will use that to direct your studies for the rest of your time here.”

“As we should have done before,” Abraxas said.

“About freakin’ time,” PZ said.

“Whatever field you are interested in: training, medicine, history, art, building, science, accounting, and much more, we shall provide the means for you to practice it, as you’ll each be assigned personal teachers aside from your own tutors to help you. You will have your own designated rooms with equipment to practice your work, and be given assignments, much like the ones you’ve had before. This is an exciting opportunity for all of you, and will lead to you achieving many great feats in the future.

Now, for those we’d like to mention who did particularly well in their studies, first, we would like to mention this Pachirisu, Patches, over there.”

They pointed to his spot, which I imagine was hard to tell apart from all the other furry subjects, big and small. I remember seeing the confused looks of the humans on the other side of the room, since they probably couldn’t see where the hell the old man was pointing to. You couldn’t exactly tell them to stand up as it didn’t make much difference standing up or sitting down for a Pachirisu.

“Not only have you been a great source of support for the subjects in your group, you’ve also done well in your studies, especially with your interest in human affairs and stitching so far. We hope you’ll be able to continue this good work in the future.”

Everyone else in his team cheered him on, although I was the only one outside of the group that clapped, since they probably didn’t know him well.

“And next, we would like to mention this Riolu, Curio, here.”

As you could imagine, it was surprising to be called out in front of so many people. I didn’t know how to react at first, so I just stood up, soaking in the attention from the Pokemon in the rest of my group and the human students staring at me. I saw Lexy and Mack in the crowd, who seemed to be gunning for me.

“You have also been a great source of support for the other subjects, and during this year, you persevered through difficult times to make the most of your studies. We wish the best of luck to you in the future as well.”

Everyone in my team clapped, including Basil, PZ and Patches in the other teams, while Shine just smiled, not being able to clap himself, I expect. Again, not knowing how to deal with that sudden appraisal, I bowed my head awkwardly and sat back down, tugging at my aura sensors. Way to go, me, I guess. At that point, I just wanted to get out of the room and back to my nook in the garden to draw. That makes me sound like some shut in, but you must’ve had that feeling before, I expect, Tony.

**(More than you’d think.)**

“And last, but certainly not least, is this Kadabra, Abraxas. You’ve made exceptional progress so far, learning subjects ahead of the other students. Not only is your grasp of the human language excellent, you are also an adept reader and show interest in a variety of studies. Your fighting skills are also unmatched, and show a lot of promise in your psychic abilities. For this, we would like to invite you on this stage, and if you would like to say anything, we would be happy to give you a platform to speak.”

Abraxas got to his feet and strutted through the lecture hall as if he owned the place. Knowing his own powers, he probably could’ve, but anyway, the duo stepped aside for him to stand in the centre of the hall, as he was just the perfect height for the podium. He adjusted the microphone with his claw and leaned into it.

“ _Well, well,”_ he spoke in human, which already set him apart. _“I’m pleased to speak in front of you all right now, and now, you shall see me for the excellence that I am.”_

Welp, here we go. Even when I’m thinking back to this, a part of me just wants to reach into this memory and scream bloody murder at him.

“ _I have worked exceptionally hard to get into this domicile, and now, I shall make the most of my time here, more than you lowly commoners will.”_

He raised one claw to our group, or rather, he raised it towards me, I imagine.

“ _I shall not bow down to you. I will only speak to you the way I view you, as a collection of worthless, wild individuals who have no idea how to direct themselves. It is a wonder you all...”_

You get the idea. He just ranted about the other Pokemon, particularly us in the wild pack for ages, and the whole time I had my paws balled into fists. I waited for any of the higher-ups to stop him from yammering on any further, but that moment never came until he bashed his paw on the wooden podium, making a resounding echo through the tightly packed room.

“ _I shall exceed every possible subject and outrun all of you scum. And with that, I shall take my leave. Thank you.”_

He strutted back to his own spot. Cartwright took up his place on the speaker, looking flushed red, which showed all of his wrinkles even from far away.

“Ahem, thank you, Abraxas. That, um, wasn’t necessary at all, but I’m glad you’re, er, enthusiastic.” His tone was less than pleased. Good on him, but I still didn’t know why he just let him speak like that. “In any case, thank you all for coming, and I wish you all the best for the rest of your time here.”

A burst of claps followed, drowning out the awkward silence Abraxas’ speech left in the room. However, even as everybody broke for it and we were supposed to make our own way back to our respective bases, I wasn’t going to let it go. Not while he strutted about as if Arceus dipped themselves in yellow body paint and started walking on their hindlegs. I strayed away from my own team, even as Azzy tried to call me back, and joined the line of the domestic subjects where Abraxas walked.

“Hey, Abraxas!” I yelled, trying to get his attention as I stormed over to him. He didn’t turn back. I thought back to PZ’s phrasebook and remembered that one human swear he liked to use on others. “Hey, you _shithead!_ What’s your problem, huh?”

“Sir Abraxas, please.” The Kadabra stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms. “What do you want, puny urchin?”

“P-puny?” I was taken aback by the comment, but I brushed it off and pointed at him. “Never mind, I've had just about enough of this! All you've done is talk about how amazing you are and how stupid everyone else is, and I'm sick of it! What makes you think you're better than me, huh?"

He gave me that shit-eating grin of his.

"I've mastered most of the subjects taught in class, and I've gone beyond that. I've read all of the books in our room, I've honed in on my psychic abilities. I could fling you across this very hallway without lifting a claw."

"You wanna try me, huh?"

"With that puny Riolu form of yours? Go ahead. It will be entertaining to see you crash and burn."

"Yeah, let's go, let's go now!"

And so, we both got in our battle positions, his spoons raised towards me, and my paws burning with anticipation. We didn't care if the staff stopped us or not. I sprang towards him, claws ready to scratch, making the first move. He raised his spoon and--"

—-

All of a sudden, the tripod holding the camera toppled over, sending the equipment crashing to the floor. It hit the ground with a great thud, and soon after, something shattered. Everyone in the room looked at it with shock written on their faces. Nobody said anything for a while, as the electric energy in the room pulsed in the background. Tony rushed to examine what had happened, starting with the camera first, and gave an exasperated sigh.

"Aw, bugger." He turned the camera around, revealing the lens, where a significant portion of the glass had cracked off and scattered into pieces on the floor.

_"What happened?"_ Shine said, examining the casualty.

"Damn wheel broke off the tripod," Tony said. "It wouldn't have been a big deal if the camera wasn't so heavy."

_"Oh dear."_ Shine looked at Curio with concern. _"Is all the footage of her going to be fine?"_

"Don't ask me,” she said, crossing her arms. “I don't know _shit_ about cameras, do I?"

"No, I mean..."

"I know, Shine, I'm just messin' with you." Curio shot a smirk at Tony, who fiddled around with all the different buttons. _"I hope I won't have to do all that talking again."_

"No, it's all fine." Tony showed the screen to the two, which replayed the footage from Curio's interview. "It's just the lens that’s screwed up. That'll be another few ten thousand down the drain."

_"Don't you have other lenses you can use?"_ Shine said.

"Well, yes, but they're not any good for close up shots like this. The aperture's important for studio settings like this, after all. Without that, the shots won't look as good."

_"Does it really matter?"_ Curio said, cocking her head.

"Yes, if I want this to look the best it can be." Tony stretched his arms. "But it's been a solid two hours, so let's call it a day for now. I'm gonna go transfer the footage over. Curio, can you pick up all the glass for me while I do that, please? There's a dustpan in the kitchen."

_"What am I, your maid?"_

"Well, you can nab something from the fridge if you do that for me, deal?"

_"Deal."_

They waited for Tony to exit the room before Shine jumped on the couch to cuddle next to Curio. She stroked his mane in return.

"How did you find that?” he said.

“Good!” She grinned. “I was really starting to get into the flow of things, but oh well, we have all the time in the world, I guess. How much do you remember now?”

He hummed to himself. Through Curio's speeches, that brought back bits and pieces of his experiences back. He only remembered it in broad strokes still, but he didn't talk about his first year in such detail to Tony, only that he often sulked and talked very little. Having someone else's view on him put into perspective how damaged he was at the beginning. He was well off, sure, but being born in such an environment without much guidance was enough to make any young Pokemon feel unwanted.

Little bits and pieces came back to him, about how he’d train his electricity harnessing skills with Patches, or how the Munchlax named Tom would bring him snacks back from the cafeteria if he was too depressed to go to the cafeteria and eat.

"Yes.” Shine smiled, then purred as she hit that sweet spot. “Now I remember all the good times I had, and half of those, I wouldn’t have experienced if it wasn’t for you.”

“Aw, ho ho!” Curio pulled him in for a hug, nuzzling his forehead. “You don’t know how proud that makes me feel. It was kinda sad seein’ you like that before. But oh well.” She brushed him away and got to her feet, examining the pile of broken glass. "We should probably get a move on. Besides, I could do with a little snack."

And so, Curio picked up the glass without much effort, threw it away, and fished two Oran berries out of the fridge for her and Shine. They padded over to Tony's side, who hunched over the desk, clicking and dragging several files into one folder. He smiled as he put his arms around both Pokemon.

"This is looking really exciting, you guys. Thanks for helping me through this."

_"Werlcolme!"_ Curio said in the middle of a bite.

_"Thanks,"_ Shine said, _"But I didn't do much. I just sat there."_

"Yes," Tony said, "But you contributed as well, plus I learned quite a bit I wouldn't have before if it wasn't for your comments."

_"I_ _suppose_ _."_

Tony rotated his chair and swivelled to Curio's direction.

"So, who won the fight in the end?"

_"Me, of course!"_

_"No you didn't!"_ Shine said, _"It was Abraxas! He won when he made you punch yourself!"_

"Aw, c'mon Shine, I've got an image to hold up here! _So who do you believe, Ant?"_

"Ant?" Tony said, then his eyes widened. "Oh, Anthony. Well, you were a Riolu, and you didn't have your aura abilities mastered yet, so I'm more inclined to believe Shine here."

_"Ugh, whatever. That's totally not biased. But anyways, I gotta go. I wanna set up camp soon."_

"Fair enough." Tony gave her a friendly smile. "If you want to stay here, my offer's still up, if you don't find it a shithole anymore."

_"Thanks,"_ Curio said, smiling back, _"I get that, but I need my own space. Maybe some other time, depends on how I feel, you know._ Well, laters Shine."

"See you later." Shine went with Curio to see her out the door, where she ruffled his mane once more before leaving the two alone. He sighed, and padded over to the couch, sinking into its comfy leather cushioning. It was weird, hearing the apartment go silent once more with the exception of Tony's clicking. He needed that moment of silence, but it also made him zero in on his own thoughts from after the interview.

Aside from the leftover memories, there was the thought of Curio’s family that tugged at the back of his mind. They were fine, but what about Liam? How was that the last time Curio spoke to him? And why just Liam? What about the rest of the family?

He looked to Tony, who kept himself occupied on the computer. Curio still never answered his question of how that came to be. Either there wasn’t enough time for her to answer, or it completely slipped her mind and needed a nudge in the right direction. And so, Shine leapt off the seat and headed towards the front door.

“Going after her?” Tony called.

“ _Yes,”_ he said, _“If I’m not back, I’ll probably still be with her for the rest of the night.”_

“Just remember to come back to pick up the package tomorrow morning. Deli the Delibird should be coming to drop it off at ten, got it?”

He almost wanted Tony to repeat that to make sure his ears didn’t need scrubbing. Delibird delivered in the summertime now? Shine brushed that thought aside though and muttered a reply as he made his way to Curio. He ventured out of the door flap, trotted down the complex's winding stairs and padded into the coast-side, where Curio was in her usual spot, tinkering away.

“Yo,” she said without needing to look back. “Glad you came.”

Shine nodded and lay down close to her, putting his head on her lap. “You didn’t talk about your family.”

Curio sighed and put the figure away. “No, I guess I didn’t.” Her tone wasn’t apologetic. “But if you wanna know anything, shoot.”

“Well, what I mostly want to know is what happened to Trunks and Ruti and everyone else. Did you ever meet them again?”

“Yeah, actually.”

Shine sat up and gazed at the Lucario. Her green eyes seemed to be glinting in the night sky again. “What, really?”

“Yeah, and most of ‘em are doing great!” She put her paws on his shoulders, showing her enthusiasm. “They ended up setting up camp in Sunyshore, of all places. I saw Twig and Stumpy, and you know what, it’s really surreal seeing them grow into Lucario after all this time!”

“I bet it is.”

“Yeah. Mom’s still as much of a storyteller as she was back then, though her eyesight’s gotten a bit funny as of late. And Trunks’ pretty much become the breadwinner, and you know what else, he teaches all the local Pokemon stuff!”

“Oh, Curio,” Shine smiled wide, showing his fangs, “That’s wonderful!”

“Yeah, they’re all doing great after all this time.” She frowned and stared off into the ocean, fiddling with a rock. “Liam, as far as I know from what happened, can go and get _fucked.”_

Shine squeaked at the sudden use of that word. “Curio, that’s—”

“Yeah, I know. Pardon my Kalosan and all, but I’m not mincing words with that guy.” She tossed the stone into the sea, making it skip several steps before it sank underwater. “Look, I’ll tell you what actually happened.” She gritted her teeth. “You know he said he’d try to be a better and stronger Mon for us? That turned out to be a goddamned lie. When he was on that island in autumn, he tried to kill himself.”

“W-what?”

“Yeah, you heard me right, he tried to freeze his ass to death on the island. Mom told me when I met her and the rest. He was a bloody wreck. After that phone call I had on the third month, he tried to starve himself first. He kept saying he was worthless and didn't find any reason to go on. Mom had to hunt for him and force him to eat; he was that much of a mess.”

“Oh, dear.”

“And that’s not all! That went on until the end of winter. When Cecrops came and offered to take them back, he wanted to stay. Even if the ocean would've frozen over, all he wanted to do was waste away there. Then Mom had a right go at him. She kept saying she'd kick his ass in the afterlife if he ever did such a thing; especially for the sake of such a young Riolu like me far away from home. After much convincing, he finally backed down and went with them. But after Cecrops took them back, he disappeared. He completely ran off from my family, leaving Trunks to pick up the pieces and essentially take over as the Dad of the family.”

Shine growled. “After all that time...”

“Yeah, so there, I don’t take back what I said about him; that guy can go eat a Groudon _dick_ for all I care.” She made a metal fist. “If I meet him in person ever again, I’ll punch his teeth out with this hand.”

Shine stared off into the sea along with her, trying to process what she said.

“Why didn’t you mention this in the interview?”

“Why does it matter?” Curio laid down on the sand and stared up at the sky. “I wanted to keep it between you and me. I didn’t wanna load all my dirty laundry on Tony, and besides, why not leave it to the imagination of whoever’s watching? That way, they can think he redeemed himself or some crap like that in the end. At least, that’s what I wanna believe.”

Shine said nothing at first. He sighed and laid down with Curio, sympathetically inching close to her.

“I think they’d like to know what happened to the rest of your family though,” he said. “I know I would. After what you told me about them here, and in GeL, I’d love to meet them in person.”

“I still keep tabs on them, sometimes, since they have a number I can ring. Maybe in another universe, I woulda settled with them, but if that was the case, then I wouldn’t have met you again.”

He purred into her side. They didn’t say anything after that, and confided in each other’s company. As much as the sand stuck to his fur and dampened his static charge, that moment in time felt perfect. Shine closed his eyes, and before he drifted off to sleep, something gently pecked his head.


	25. Special Interlude: Found and Lost Part 1

I’m still trying to process what happened a while ago. When I was still learning how to write, I was often told to log down my troubling thoughts. These helped me in the past when I had to come to terms with Dad’s disappearance. This time, though, I’m not so sure. We’ll see. But maybe I should start from the beginning of that week, now I have the time to write this down.

-trunks-

On Monday morning, my Simisear partner, Cavi, stuck his finger in my ear to wake me up. Even though I was half-asleep, I could still see him sneering at me while he munched on a Leppa berry.

“Really?” I said. “There are better ways to get me out of bed.”

“Still got yer attention,” he said. “Better than sleepin’ through a human alarm. Now c’mon, we should get started soon.”

I nodded and pushed the blankets aside. To this day, I still find beds a weird comfort to have, considering I used to sleep on grassy floors all the time, but we had earned it, along with the rest of the house.

I’m not sure if I’ve described the dojo before. I have a good picture of it in my head, but this time, I think it would be fun to paint a picture with words. Any chance for me to practise my writing skills, after all.

We slept in the living quarters of a dojo. Alongside the battle rooms fit for training other Pokemon, there was an annex that had its own bedroom, kitchen and living room. The bedroom I stood in had those soft bamboo mats that felt spongy underneath my paws, as well as paper walls that let screens of morning light into the room. It smelled like cooked rice as well. For humans, apparently, the house was traditional and primitive compared to most buildings in Sinnoh. When we first struck a deal with our human helper Eric, the place was disused, so most wouldn’t have even set foot in it. Good thing there were no Gastly lurking about, otherwise, I doubt we would’ve found anywhere else to go.

Wanting to get to work as soon as possible, I nudged my family members awake. Mom, who called herself Ruti, and my second youngest brother, who Mom named Stumpy a while ago, went to the kitchen without much trouble. My youngest brother, Twig, though, was listening to that player of his, blaring music through the duvets. Once he peeked his head from under the covers, I yanked the headphones out.

“Nhh,” he said, pulling back the blanket over him. “Was listenin’ to that.”

“Come on,” I said, “You can listen to it later. For now, we’ve all got our part to play in setting everything up.”

He feigned snoring, though through his aura, I could tell he was still awake. Just for that, I gave him a playful tug by the ears, which he groaned at. He still wouldn’t budge.

“I could give that player back to your friends in the city,” I said with a wide grin. “I’m sure they’d find another Mon willing to take it.”

“Alright, fine, I’m gettin’ up!” Twig got out of bed, at last, and stuck out his tongue at me as he left the room. I put the device to one side, being careful not to break it or anything. It was a wonder I didn’t with my own meaty paws, so how he used it daily was beyond me.

Anyway, I had to eat breakfast. I went into the kitchen, which had its own set of luxuries as Eric had installed a water supply for us to use. I poured myself a glass and sat on the side, observing Mom as she helped Stumpy make breakfast. Another human appliance we used was the rice cooker, which was enough to accommodate breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stumpy often burned it if left to his own devices, but it gave him a purpose, anyway, so I didn’t mind. Despite her near-sightedness, Mom was good at picking out the mistakes Stumpy made, like leaving the water to boil for too long or not asking Cavi to lend his flames enough. That was another perk of having a fire-type, alongside the fact that it provided a heat source in the primitive house. Not that we were exactly used to having central heating.

I might be getting sidetracked, but hopefully, it should be enough to go on. Once they finished preparing the eggy rice and berries, we sat on the low-cut table altogether. I dug into my dish straight away. Stumpy kneaded his paws together.

"Um," he asked, looking shiftily from left to right, "Is it nice?"

His aura yearned for encouragement.

"Of course," I said, smiling, "You did a good job."

"But ma did most of the work, didn't she?" Twig said. I elbowed him in the side for that one, and he took the hint. His aura didn't seem malicious, so I forgave him for that slight.

"Try being a bit more adventurous next time," Cavi said, wiping rice grains off his face. "Some pancakes would be nice."

"I think Eric spoils you enough," I said, "He pays for most of your meals anyway, doesn't he?"

"Well, yeah, when he's around."

"I could make you some, if you wanted," Mom said, smiling. "I know you Simisear have a sweet tooth."

"No we don't," he said, digging into a sweet Pecha berry, "That's species profiling, I tell ya."

"But you're not exactly an exception," I chimed in.

"Whatever." He shrugged, and spat the Pecha pits out. He drummed his paws on the mats, aura burning with fighting spirit. "I'm waitin' on you to finish, slowpoke."

I ate as fast as I could without giving myself indigestion, and we went on to carry out our own tasks. Me and Cavi sparred in the dojo part while the rest looked after the annex. It was important to train ourselves everyday in order to keep fit and healthy. We had to set an example for the dojo students, so we couldn't skimp out on the service. Cavi, I might add, was a natural born fighter, with way more experience in training with humans than I had. In any case, our first bases covered dodging each other's fireballs and aura spheres, and then the next bases covered mid-range combat, then close combat, and move theory. By the end of our sparring session, I had to rest for a bit in the garden, but that was a sign I had an excellent partner to work with. It often helped my meditation afterwards, as it gave me the chance to reflect on my own strengths and weaknesses. Stumpy followed suit in this philosophy, as it helped him focus on his own flaws without self-loathing, but it wasn't a virtue Twig seemed to follow. Perhaps that was because he was so easily distracted, but whatever. Maybe I was getting old.

By the time it turned midday, we were ready for the dojo session. The trainers came in and dropped their Pokemon off in the fighting area. While I was there to mediate between the Pokemon and the humans, Stumpy was there to keep records on which trainers came in and how much money they gave us; all of which would contribute to the dojo's rent. After that was sorted, we'd start by letting the Pokemon show off their moves, then let them train with each other, then guide them as they fought. I won't detail what each part was about, since I go through enough of that daily, but I thought I'd lay the groundwork.

Each session ended by training them to use the human tongue, as well as a reading from Mom with one of her many storybooks. The Mon seemed to enjoy it, although it wasn’t technically a part of the dojo service, and if we were able to spread our knowledge to them, that would’ve made us happy for a long time.

Of course, after that, there was dinner, mediation, and the usual family bonding sessions, which I won’t get too much into. But point is, we sat in the living room, perfectly content as we all played a board game together. That was when it happened. There was this presence that entered Sunyshore, which felt like an aura, except not. Auras were usually clear, and even if the person or Pokemon in question was the type to lock thoughts away, you could still see into them like an open book. This was the first time I felt an aura that was completely opaque, one you couldn't see into. Even Dad, way back when, didn't have that sort of aura. Save for Cavi, the rest of my family noticed it too as we were huddled around the blanketed table. We didn't talk about it, but we all exchanged glances.

"What's goin' on?" Cavi said, sucking a sugar cube. "Is there somethin' on my face again?"

"No," we said collectively. That satisfied him.

The rest settled down for the night. While they were able to go to sleep easily, I tossed and turned in my bed. Eventually, I got up, crept through the bamboo floors and meditated in my usual spot outside. That aura still picked and prodded at my head. It had no owner, or at least, didn't seem to, so there was no telling what species it was. For all I knew, it could've been an alien, like the ones Mom used to tell about in her stories back on the island. Then I thought about my sister again, and my heart felt all lumpy.

I hadn't heard from her for several years, how many exactly, I couldn't tell. I remembered those green eyes, that tuft of fur on her forehead, and her boundless curiosity. I often thought about what she was doing with that learning centre. I'm sure they taught her the skills to do just about anything.

Even further than that though, I thought about what she would’ve done with her life once she got out, or graduated, even. Maybe she even had a gallery of her own, proudly displaying her drawings. It was wishful thinking, sure, but there were a pawful of Pokemon that managed to break into that world, so why couldn't she? Or maybe she decided to travel the world with a trainer. Years ago, I would’ve cringed at the idea, but as long as she made her own decision to do it, I would’ve been happy. Maybe she was doing something completely different. Whatever it was, I hoped she found her place in the world.

I didn't move from my spot. After a while, I must’ve stopped meditating and drifted off to sleep in the open.

\---

I woke up with the sunlight streaming on my face, and the flying-types making my body into a nest. Two Starly were perched on my lap, and a Swablu somehow found itself falling asleep on my head. It was oddly pleasant to have a flying ball of fluff atop of me, but still, I had to get to work. I gently shooed them away, then woke up my family to get the annex cleaned up. It was Twig's turn to wash the bed linens, and clearly wasn’t happy about it.

"What's the point?" he said, holding a pile of sheets. "They're still white!"

"That doesn't mean they shouldn't be washed properly," I said. "What if they turn yellow with sweat?"

He groaned and went to the stream to clean them. Cavi watched, amused as he chomped into his berry of the day.

“I swear, this new generation of Mon sure are a handful. Do you think he’d like some cheese with that whine?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, but in hindsight, that joke flew over my head. “But I’m not much older than him, so you’re kind of insulting me in a way.”

“I’m kiddin’.” He patted his chest. “Out of the young Mon I’ve met, you’ve really come a long way. Just don’t get too old, like me.”

I hummed a reply. Truth be told, he certainly didn’t have the mind of a veteran fighter, but still, I didn’t really know how to take that compliment from him. I don’t think I do in general.

We were in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast, and me and Cavi were about to go off to spar more, but that faraway aura still nagged at me. He must've seen the look on my face since he put his paw on my shoulder.

"Something wrong? You got the face of a Grumpig there."

"I’m not sure I like being compared to swine," I said blankly, "But no. We should practise for the day. If that feeling doesn't go away, I'll let you know.'

He shrugged, then we went off to hone our usual techniques. Focusing my own aura in battle and keeping myself on my toes distracted me for a bit. Battle was just one of many forms of therapy, after all. But while it made me forget that tension for a bit, once our session was finished and we had time to recover, that sensation lingered over me again. It was like something died in the dojo and its stink had spread across the building; you couldn't have escaped from it no matter how much you tried. But while that whiff was there, it was worth doing a deep clean instead of letting it fester, so to speak. When we headed back to the kitchen, Cavi turned and crossed his arms.

"Is this gonna get in the way of teachin’ those Pokemon?"

"Possibly. I'm sorry, but I can’t go on like this. Can you cover for me today?"

He sighed, but ultimately smiled and flicked his paw away. "Whatever. It's the same batch of students, so I can always ask Stumpy to sort the boring stuff out."

So that was that. I thanked him before heading off to find the source of that aura. I might as well have killed two fliers with one stone, so Mom gave me a grocery list as well as how much each item would cost.

After saying goodbye, I went to the treasury room and took out all the money I'd need from Eric's safe. At least he reimbursed us that way. On a side note, however, I should say that my family were the only Pokemon he trusted with that sort of power, as even Cavi didn’t have that sort of autonomy we did. Most Pokemon still don’t, anyway. But I digress. With that, I stepped outside the dojo and set off on my journey.

I should also explain the dojo is up on the higher parts of Sunyshore. There are a lot of cliffs and hills, since it is a coastal town, but even with that, we were higher up where the grass grew and was partly connected to the forest. While the walk from the dojo down to the inner city was long, one thing that helped was the tram system. Since Sunyshore was a huge network for ports, they needed a good transit system as well, and the trams were always easy to hop on and off. On a good day when it wasn't too busy, I would be allowed on there for free (being a Pokemon has its perks) and gaze out the window, watching the various views speed past me. Not only did I see the various tall buildings whizz past past and the differently shaped Pokemon that roamed outside with their trainers, I also saw the sea in the distance, which shone in the sun. It filled me with a sense of calm, even in the urban chaos. The view even made up for the rocky nature of the trams, as it often felt like a rug was being pulled out from underneath my paws. It took a few minutes before I hopped off to my destination: Sunyshore Market.

As with any place, it seemed, there was an abundance of trainers there, but with Sunyshore in particular, it made a lot through the Seal and Ribbon shops. I can't say I saw much point in it, but it was none of my business in the end. Let the humans decorate their Pokeballs if they really want to. I worked through each item in the list, filling up my basket with a variety of goods, until I spotted that presence again. It was right in the middle of the food court, not too far away. I knew I was going on a detour, but I needed answers, just to clear my mind for the rest of the day. I walked along the hot sunny pavement, following my nose where the sweet and savoury smells were until I got to the source. In that court was a whole maze of food stalls, cooking meats over open fires. Both humans and Pokemon helped each other in the shift, as they either helped them dish up the plates or even had a paw in the cooking process. It would've been a usual scene in the Market, except for that presence. That strangely familiar presence.

I'm still having trouble wrapping my thoughts around our first meeting in a long time, but I'll try my best.

The presence belonged to a Lucario. Not just any Lucario like myself; one with a satchel around their waist, and a bandaged arm. They were surrounded by a few trainers and angry looking Pokemon that snarled at them. I couldn't hear what they said without my aura, so I walked further in. Getting closer, I saw the Lucario carried another paper bag, which presumably had many different foodstuffs in there.

"Give that back!" one of the vendors said, "Do you know how much trouble you're in?"

_"Yeah,"_ the Lucario responded, in human tongue, of all things, and in a feminine voice as well. _"What about me, huh? Can't you spare a skewer for a poor hungry Lucario?"_

"That's not the problem!" another vendor said with his Magmortar fuming by his side. "You've been taking stuff from many different stalls! You do realise how bad that is for business, right?"

_"Tho?"_ She chomped on one of the Torchic skewers, and spoke while chewing loudly. _"Whath am I thuppothed to do?"_ She swallowed. _"It's not like I can get a job like you guys, so why should you care?"_

"It's just not right." One Vaporeon stepped forward, speaking in their own tongue. "There are other ways of finding food here, even if you're a stray."

_"You callin' me a stray?"_ she said, snorting. _"Piss off."_

In response, the Vaporeon spewed a jet of water in her direction, which she dodged. In turn, she charged up an aura sphere in her paws. At that point, I felt the aura of those all around her. They were sympathetic, but they still had to make back the earnings they lost. It was like if we gave our own dojo services for free; we wouldn't have been able to keep a roof over our heads. While it was none of my business, it reflected badly on my kind, so I had to step in.

"Miss," I said, "Return what you stole, or you'll have to face me."

"You wanna go, huh?" she said as she turned around. "Fine! I'll kick your _a--_ "

As soon as we faced each other up close, I recognised those green eyes, which widened, and in turn, I knew she recognised me. She was my sister.

I didn't know how to process it at first. What was she doing there in Sunyshore, and why did she have that bandaged arm? I wanted to say something, but my jaw hung open, unable to find the right words. She ended up doing the talking for me.

"Bro?" she said. I nodded. At that moment, time stood still. If I had to capture any memory and put it in a capsule to look at over and over again, it would've been the first time I laid eyes on my sister in 8 or so years. It was only a brief moment, since one of the vendors coughed nervously.

"What's going on?" they said. That snapped me back to reality. Remembering that my sister was still in trouble, I quickly drew out the savings purse and grabbed a pawful of bills.

_"Excuse me,"_ I said, bowing to the vendors. _"Sorry for the trouble, but I want to put this behind us. How much does she owe you?"_

"A few hundred from mine," one said.

"A grand!" another said.

"Um," one Aipom said, counting from his tail-hand, "What are two buns worth?"

I sighed and sorted through my own change. I had 3000 Pokedollars left from shopping. Hopefully, that would've been enough to cover the costs. I handed each of the vendors a 1000PD bill just to be safe.

_"Please,"_ I said, _"I hope this should fix things between you and her."_

They put the bills back in their pockets and gave a brief nod before going back to their own stalls. Their Pokemon stared at her for a bit before going back with their trainers. At last, the scene was clear, and it was just us two now. Sis rubbed her bandaged shoulder, clearly looking a little guilty. I smiled, though. She didn't need lecturing from me, of all Pokemon.

"Sis," I said. I was about to ask how she was doing, but they came out as half-formed words before I stopped. She laughed nervously.

"Well, crap," she said, "This is really awkward." Another snicker. "What do I say to all of this?"

I couldn't help but join in her amusement. "I can't say I was expecting to meet you like this. I thought it would've been a bit more, I don't know."

She snorted. "Did you expect a tearful reunion or somethin'?"

"No, just..." I trailed off. I looked around, trying to find anywhere we could soak it all in without causing a scene. There was an unoccupied table with two opposite seats.

"Why don't we sit down?"

She nodded, and there we sat, while she took another skewer out of her bag.

"Um," I started. I wasn't usually so slow to speak, I swear. But there was still something I had to get out of the way first. "Do you mind explaining what happened back there?"

"Shure," she said mid-bite. "This is kinda embarrassing. I usually get away with this sort of stuff, since it's easy to slip away if you use your aura."

"So you've stolen before?"

"Lots of times. Like I said, I usually don't get caught, but I must've let my guard down this time." She finished the last of her skewer, then tossed the stick away and frowned. "Sorry you hadda bail me out, bro."

"That's fine. I can't say we've never been at fault before."

"We've?" She raised an eye. "Does that mean the gang's here too?"

"Yes. We've settled near the city." My heart sank a little. On the day we left the island, we knew it would've been tough on her, but we had little choice in the matter. Sympathetically, I placed my paw on hers. "I'm so sorry we left. I really can't stress that enough."

"Stop that, bro." She pulled her paw away. "I knew you couldn’t have stayed there, not that you really wanted to."

"Still!" I stood up, raising my voice. A wave of sadness washed over me in that moment. "We should've done more to help you! And after all this, you're stealing in the streets!"

She pounced on me, and wrapped her arms around my back. That bandaged arm felt alien, to say at the least. Still, after all of that distance, it was comforting to have her back.

"It's fine, bro," she said. “It was outta your control, so don't be such a drama queen."

"I know." I squeezed her tightly. "I'm just glad to know you're safe, even if you're not in one piece."

She pulled away and pointed at her face. "Hey, at least I've got a kickass battle scar to show for it."

I snorted, not even sure if I should laugh at that. "You seem quite easy-going about it."

"Well, I'm alive, anyway." She grabbed the bag. "Say, why don't you take me to where your place is? I'd love to see how they're doin'."

"No," I said. "I was going to tell you to leave Sunyshore and never come back."

She squinted at me for a bit, before patting my shoulder. "Bro, you kinda suck at sarcasm."

"I know." I shrugged. Then, my stomach rumbled. I hadn't had a lunchtime snack yet, curse my fast metabolism. "If you want to make it up to me for what happened earlier, you could spare me one of those steamed buns."

"Fine." She tossed one over to me. From there, we walked through the market centre, going out of the food court and weaving in between all the other stalls. She told me a few bits and pieces about how she ended up in Sunyshore from travelling on the bus for days, and also explained how she had Sunyshore on her Sinnoh bucket list for a while. I mostly listened to her as I sampled that bun. It felt soft and fluffy in my paw, and the taste was even better, with some sort of red bean paste in it. She still had two of those Miltank skewers on standby.

"You seem quite well travelled," I said.

"Tell me about it. You could never pin me down to one place, after all."

Thoughts of her leaving the island for that learning centre were at the back of my mind. I wanted to ask her all about it, but I could tell this wasn't the right moment for it, so instead, I asked her about some of the places she visited, which she rattled off, one by one, She mentioned a recent expedition to Snowpoint City, which caught my attention.

"Is it still snowy up there? I couldn't imagine it during the summer."

"Eh," she said, digging into a skewer. "Kind of? It was like, what, one or two months ago I went? They had groups just for hiking and camping up there, and I managed to sneak into one of them, so it was a fun time for all of us. I drank a lot of cocoa there, the trainers and their Pokemon told me all sorts of good stories, it was just nice, y’know." She shook her head rapidly, making a brring sound. "Colder than a Jynx's _tit_ , though."

I choked on my bun, patting the top of my chest to make it go down. "Where'd you pick up that phrase?"

"It was tossed 'round a lot by the humans, so it kinda grew on me. I could go on all day about the weird stuff I got from them."

"I'd love to hear it all at some point." I grinned like an idiot. "I'm so glad you're getting on well by yourself though, aside from, you know."

"Yeah, well." She shrugged and took another bite. "I do try.”

She continued talking about that while I just listened. I don't recall all the details. There might’ve been something about riding a Mamoswine or going Houndoom sledding or whatever other adventures she went on, but it was nice all the same. Even though I couldn't feel her aura, from how passionate she sounded about it, I could tell she had found her place in the world, somewhat. That was how I imagined her all that time, and there she was, in the flesh, living in the moment. I couldn’t have been a happier Mon that day.

  
  


**(Art by me and Chibi-Pika. Drawings and lines by Chibi Pika. Shading and background details by me)**

I won't bother with writing about the tram ride, so I'll skip to the part where we got home. The walk up the hill usually took quite a bit of time, but we didn't have to stop to catch our breath. I actually found myself having to catch up with her. Maybe I was getting out of practise with hiking. But once we reached the dojo, her jaw dropped.

"Woah, awesome," she said. "How'd you end up in a place like that?"

I chuckled. "It's a long story. But we should go in. I can't wait to see how they'll react."

As if to answer my call, the sliding doors opened, revealing the whole family. Stumpy stared, broom in paw. His aura revealed excitement, but still quite a bit of nervousness. Twig gazed, nonplussed about the whole thing. His aura didn't reflect that much of an emotional response. Mom, however, ran outside and inspected Sis, close enough that she could get a good look at her face, and once it finally hit, she hugged her as she cried tears of joy.

"My girl," she said in between sobs, "I've missed you so much."

"And you, mama." Sis started sniffling. "Wow, now you got me chokin' up as well."

"Sorry. I can't help it." She pulled herself away and reached to grasp her paw, but stopped when she noticed the bandaged arm.

"What in the world happened to that?"

"It's fine," Sis said without so much batting an eye. "I just have it for show. It looks cool, don't you think?"

"Um..." Mom trailed off, glancing over to me before taking Sis' other paw. "Anyway, please, come in!"

And so, they walked in, paw by paw, as I followed. Sis marvelled at the insides, which were wide and spacious. Cavi was still in the middle of teaching, and the presence of another Lucario there brought the attention of all the students to Sis.

"Woah," one Riolu said, eyes gleaming. "She replacin' you, teach?"

"Well," I said, flustered. "No, I--"

"Yeah, totally," Sis said, flashing a toothy grin. “If he gets too borin’ for ya, give me a shout!”

Some of the students turned towards her with curiosity.

“She seems a lot more fun!” one Chimchar said,

“Yeah!” an Eevee said. “Give us the coolcario!”

“Coolcario!” another said. “Coolcario!”

“Alright,” I said, grabbing Sis’s paw. “Let’s not get carried away.” We passed by them and went into the annex along with the rest, where Sis sat in the living room. Mom was in the middle of preparing tea, while we were alone with Stumpy and Twig. Sis gazed at them, undoubtedly fascinated. She hadn't seen them since they were Riolu, after all.

"My, you lot have grown!" she said. "I never woulda imagined you evolvin' into Lucario!"

Stumpy mumbled, unsure of how to respond.

"What?" Curio pointed at herself. "It's not my face is it? Do I need to put a paper bag over it?"

Stumpy stifled a laugh, while Twig still seemed unaffected by the whole thing. And surely enough, it wasn't long before Stumpy started sniffling, rubbing his eyes.

"S-s-sorry," he said, "I, I'm a Lucario now, I s-shouldn't act like this."

"Oh, knock it off." Curio leaned over to hug him, and he embraced her, crying over her shoulder. "Whoever's tellin' you that is givin' you nonsense. Besides, you've got a good excuse."

"Yeah," he mumbled. "It's just nice to see you, Sis. It was lonely without you, even with everyone else."

"Well, I'm here for a bit, so we've got plenty to catch up with." She patted him on the back and pulled away. "Now, turn that frown upside down."

Of course, that cheered up Stumpy a bit. Twig, still, wouldn't be swayed. Before I could ask him about it, Mom came back with teacups for all of us. Sis sipped with delight, and basically told them what she was doing there.

"Oh, you travel, huh?" Mom said, rubbing her paws enthusiastically. "Wonderful! I always pictured you going out there, seeing the world!”

She rubbed her head sheepishly. “Heh, you know me too well.”

“In any case, make yourself at home!” Mom turned to me, expecting a full bag of groceries, only to see half of what I promised. “Where’s the rest?”

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat, signalling to Sis that she had to confess her stint from earlier. So she did, and while Stumpy seemed worried about it, and Twig didn’t seem to care either way, Mom laughed.

“So you’re making trouble already here?” she said, “Well, it’d be rich of me to tell you off for it. I’ve done it more times than I can count.”

“Really?” That got Sis’ attention. “Shocker. I never pegged you as a sort of role model, ma.”

“I mean, you don’t hang around the city as a stray for a bit without picking up a few tricks, huh?” She saw Sis frown a bit at that, and tapped her paw on the table to reassure her. “Not saying you’re a stray. You seem like a very smart girl.”

Sis crossed her arms, pouting. “I’m not a girl anymore.”

“Fine then. A very smart young, um, womon? That’s not a word, is it?” She turned to me to double check, and I just shrugged. I wasn’t going to shove a dictionary in their faces, after all.

Mom downed the rest of the tea, and her face turned a bit more serious. “That’s fine if you don’t get caught, or are on your own. But if you’re staying with us, you shouldn’t leave a paper trail. We want to keep the dojo’s good image, after all.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sis tugged at her aura sensors. “But I’m a Pokemon. I just can’t settle like you or the humans can.”

“Nonsense,” I said, clenching my fists. For some reason, I got a little annoyed at that, but I kept my cool and thought back to that situation earlier. “I know you’re a great human speaker. Of all the time you’ve spent in the cities, haven’t you thought of teaching that once?”

“Of course I have.” She sipped nervously. “It’s never really appealed to me though. I just hate the sound of working to earn my keep when I can just steal what I want. I don’t even need a home; I just go to parks and settle down in a sleeping bag or a tent or somethin’.”

I growled. At that point, I was starting to get frustrated. I could see her point, but at the same time, it didn’t suit someone like her. A Pokemon of her intelligence didn’t deserve something like that. I was about to say something, then I glanced at Twig, who stared off into the distance.

“Twig,” I said with a glare. “Aren’t you going to say hello? You don’t seem very happy to have her around.”

Out of nowhere, he bashed his fists on the table and stormed off out of the kitchen. We just stared, dumbfounded.

“What’s got his blue knickers in a twist?” Sis said.

“Oh, nothing dear,” Mom said, stroking her head. “He’s just mopey in general.”

I sighed and honed in on his aura from the bedroom. He was in there, sulking as he listened to his music player. He was angry, confused, and saddened all at the same time. Why exactly, I couldn’t tell right away, but I knew it was tearing him apart from the inside. I reasoned I brought it up too suddenly, and took a few deep of breaths. His own frustration bounced off of me, but I wasn’t going to let it get to my head. Just like any young Mon, I had to get down to his level, apologise, and try to reach out to him. I wasn’t going to repeat the same mistakes Dad did.

“Sis?” I said. I remembered I brought up Twig’s name, but I didn’t know if we were all on the same wavelength. “Do you have a name?”

“Curio,” she said with a smile.

“Trunks.” I smiled back. The name Curio really seemed to suit her, and Mom must’ve felt it too, since her aura brightened up a bit as well.

“Can you come and help me with Twig? I think he owes us an explanation.”

Curio nodded and went with me to the bedroom. There Twig was, underneath all those blankets, as usual. It was his comfort zone whenever he got into one of those moods. He probably wouldn’t hear us through those speakers, so a gentle approach was the best,

Although I couldn’t read Curio’s aura, judging from the confident look on her face, she understood what was going on. Without needing to ask, she sat down next to the bed and put a paw on that duvet pile, rubbing it. After a while, the music stopped playing.

“You’re touchin’ my butt.”

“ _Shit_ , sorry.”

I put a paw up to my mouth, surprised at her sudden language. I guessed it was another thing she picked up from the humans. In any case, Curio laid her head next to the mattress, looking like she was about to fall asleep herself. Finally, Twig’s head popped out from under the covers, and he stared at Curio, as if for the first time. Then, it hit me. He had only known her for a year at most, and during an early age. Of course, there was going to be a bit of distance between them.

“I guess it feels weird, huh?” she said. “I kinda feel the same way as well. Last time I saw you, you were only fresh out the egg, so it’s like lookin’ at you for the first time too.”

He grumbled. “Your aura’s weird.”

“Maybe. But I’m still that buttmunch you knew years ago. You know, the one that got Trunks royally plastered?”

“Sis,” I said, stifling a laugh. “I don’t think you needed to open up that old wound.”

That finally got through to Twig, as he laughed as well. Then, he turned away from Sis, facing the wall.

“Sorry, Curio,” he said. “I just don’t feel anythin’ when I look at you. It was too long ago. But I know I should. It’s like sayin’ you’re a complete stranger. Am I a bad Mon for feelin’ that?”

Curio rubbed her temple, probably just as conflicted as I was at that moment. “Look, Twiggy, it’s more normal than you think. Even when I met Trunks back in that food court, it took some getting used to. But I’m here now, so, why don’t we get to know each other more now I’m back?”

That seemed to get through to him. Twig turned back round and frowned. At that point, I thought I’d join Curio, and rubbed his head.

“I’m sorry for bringing that up so suddenly,” I said. “I should’ve known.”

“Yeah.” Twig sat up, then, hugged us both. “I’m sorry too.” He pulled away, and his face lit up. Finally, he got out of bed and rummaged through a drawer before he pulled out another one of his board games; one of those card games where the player had to pick the worst sounding phrases out of the draw and come up with the funniest responses for all of them. “Ever since I learned to read, the Mon in the city got me to play this, and it’s been my favourite ever since. Humans come up with some weird _shit_ sometimes.”

“Language,” I scolded.

“What?! Curio swore!”

“Both of you, language.”

Curio laughed at that before brushing it off. “Sorry, I’ll try gettin’ it outta my system. But that sounds like fun, Twiggy. Can’t wait to play it.”

“We’ll do that after dinner then.” I patted both of them on the shoulder. “So maybe we should get started.”

After that, the rest of the day went smoothly. Cavi returned from his shift and was surprised at first to see another member of the family come back, but he warmed up to Sis quickly. While me, Mom and Cavi hunted, from what Curio told me, she kept the younger brothers entertained and showed them all sorts of knickknacks she picked up from her travels. Bits and pieces like skyscraper figures from Jubilife and a snowglobe from Snowpoint. To this day, I still don’t know how the humans came up with that technology, or just how much was in Sis’ bag at that time, but in any case, we came back, cooked dinner, which Sis gobbled up quickly, and played that card game, which got all of us to laugh at least once. I think Sis ended up winning with the best card choices. After that, I noticed Twig looked at her in a new light and aura, able to reconnect with her after so long. I think he just appreciated having someone who matched his youthful energy.

It turned dark, and so, for lack of a better place for her to go, I offered Sis my bed. She was a bit reluctant to do so at first, but I assured her it would be fine, so that was the end of that. As for me, I meditated out in the garden while the rest presumably fell asleep judging from their auras. That presence was still there, though. I would’ve fallen asleep out in the open, but to my surprise, Curio’s opaque aura walked out of the dojo and joined me. My eyes were still closed, but I wanted to let her come up to me herself.

“Boo,” she said.

“You can’t surprise a Lucario, even if they’re your own kind,” I said, opening my eyes. I got a punch in the arm for that.

“Shaddup,” she said, and we laughed it off. Then, Curio tugged at my shoulder. “Hate to bring this up out of the blue, but Dad ain’t here.”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“He screwed off somewhere else then, didn’t he?”

I immediately turned around to look her in the eyes. They looked calm on the surface, but deep down, I knew they hid a lot of anger as they twitched. I didn’t want her to come back to that, but I might as well have told her the truth.

“Liam, um, I mean, Dad, wasn’t very emotionally stable once you left the island. It wasn’t your fault, I promise.”

I told her the rest of the details, stuff I don’t care to recall, but remember vividly nonetheless. The wailing. The massive surges of guilt that radiated from him. The suicidal threats. The wordless goodbye over night. The more I told her, the more rapid Sis’ breaths were, and when I finished, she ran and punched a crater in a nearby tree with her bandaged paw. I sat as still as stone, trying to process how she was capable of doing such a thing. She shouted and cursed in all sorts of sickening human words, not caring who heard her. My belly started churning through the violent power of her voice alone. The rest of the family didn’t stir from this; the only other thing that answered her was the frightened calls of the flying types who were startled out of their nests.

In that moment, a part of her aura cleared up, showing intense feelings of resentment and betrayal.

“He,” Curio said in between gasps of air, “He said. He would. Be strong. For me.” She pounded the ground beneath her, sending clumps of mud flying everywhere. “ _Fucking_ liar.”

That human swear still cut deep, even though it wasn’t directed at me. Still, I felt her anger. I felt the same when I first struggled through his departure. Her fresh reaction picked at that old scab.

Curio took a few more deep breaths before gathering herself. Her aura was no longer clear, but its usual impenetrable self. “So, after he left you up _shit’s_ creek, what happened?”

I sighed, remembering the times we lived on the streets and tried to find any work or training duties that put us out of the stray-filled streets at night. “Long story, but whatever happened was hard. But I pushed through it in the end, for all of us, and got to where I am now.” I held her paw. “Everyone else helped as well, especially Mom. She fought for us as much as I did.”

“So you became the new Dad.” She squeezed my palm. “What a life, right?”

“For better or for worse.” I pulled it away and patted her head. “But I’m over it now, so don’t you worry about it. I landed on my feet here.”

She sighed, looking to the distance. “If ya say so.”

“Truth be told, if it wasn’t for you going to that learning centre, you wouldn’t have inspired me to do better.”

Her eyes widened at the mention of it. I didn’t mean to pry, but I felt it was time to ask.

“If you don’t mind, Curio, can I--”

“N-no.” She shook her head rapidly, tugging on her remaining aura sensors. “Not now, bro. I can’t. L-leave it for another time, please.”

Her voice was shaky, and from there, I knew I had to stop. The timing had to be right, after all, so I dropped it. A moment of silence passed. Curio breathed in and out, calming herself, before she asked me this:

“Bro, you know you were talkin’ about teachin’ other Pokemon the human tongue. Do you really think I should start doin’ that?”

I nodded. “Without question. I think doing that will open up more doors than you might think.”

“Yeah, I kind of get sick of stealin’ after a while. It just doesn’t feel earned. Plus, I guess it would be nice just to chat. I could do that for ages.”

“Then you’ll probably love this.”

“But where do I start, y’know? I can’t just go up to any rando and ask ‘hey, wanna spend hours just trying to say hello in human?’”

“I never said it was easy. You’ll need to prove you’re a good teacher, so you need to keep up good impressions around here. Once you get it though, you might never have to steal anything ever again. How does that sound?”

She paused, deep in thought, before she lied down on the grassy floor and groaned.

“Ugh, fine, you win. You and your dumb responsibilities, hmph.”

“Good. We’ll start looking tomorrow. But for now, let’s just enjoy our own company.” I winked at her. “You’re still a part of our family, after all.”

She smiled and clutched at my waist. “Thanks, bro.”


	26. Interlude - Ambrette's Flyers

The next morning, the two returned home a few minutes before the package was due. When it came time, there was a banging at the door. Several bangs, in fact. Curio went to see who it was, and true to Tony's word, there was a Delibird, dressed in his flight gear with a backpack presumably containing the package. He was about as thin as a rake, but clearly well groomed, if his well preened feathers were of any indication.

"Morning! Deli, reporting for duty! I've got a lens and a tripod here for Tony?"

"I'm his Pokemon, yes."

"Great! Can either one of you sign for me?"

"I can," Curio said, snatching a marker off the Delibird's flippers.

"Cool!" He dug into his bag to retrieve the parcels.

"Ain't it kind of hot for Pokemon like you to be out here?"

"Nope, not in the slightest! I've been doing this for a few months now, so I've gotten used to it." He patted at his slim belly. "Believe it or not, I used to weigh a ton! I was a huge coach potato until I got back into this job."

"Good to hear, I guess?"

Deli retrieved both packages and made Curio scribble over a form with the marker. As Shine watched, he remembered hearing Accendare was part of the Postmon service as well.

"Mister Deli," Shine said, "I don't suppose you've met a Dragonite called Accendare, have you?"

"I have indeed!" he said, taking back the slip, "She came a few months while I was still burning off all that fat. She's a bit quiet, but she's still nice."

"So, have you noticed something off about her lately?"

"I dunno, I haven't seen her for a while. But anyway." Deli fastened the bag, and gave the two one last glance before perching onto the railing. "Thanks a lot!"

Curio waved him goodbye as he beat his wings and glided into the air, where he flapped and weaved graciously towards the horizon. With that out of the way, the two were left to their own devices, leaning over the railing to gaze at the morning sky. The view was always pleasant to look at, with the sun just barely kissing the horizon, creating an orange glow that cast itself onto the coastal town's equally colourful stone buildings, filling, Shine’s heart with a rare sense of calm. Sure, the town was pretty throughout the day in general, as southern Kalos usually got both the best of the weather, but seeing this reminded him of why Ambrette was the best place for him to live with a trainer. In that time to reflect, Shine remembered what day it was.

“Huh,” Shine said, “It’s Friday.”

“Yeah, so?”

He remembered mentioning the Dragonite, and then thought back to the last lesson at the dragon ranch. Yesterday was supposed to be a day off, and he was still in debt to Adele in the end. When this realization hit him, Shine’s fur pricked up at his spine.

“Oh, no!” he yelled, “We’re gonna be late!”

“For what?” Curio asked. In response, Shine pounced on her and pawed at her desperately.

"We have to go to the ranch again and I was supposed to prepare for the lesson but I haven't done anything and I completely forgot about it and Petri's going to be disappointed and Adele's going to turn my _ass_ into grass and--"

"Shine, stop!" Curio patted her hand on Shine's back, which jolted him out of his panic. "You're goin' too fast! It'll be fine, I haven't prepared either."

"But--"

"No buts, or any butts for that matter. We’ll just wing it today, alright?”

"There has to be more than that, though! Our lessons need to have structure, we need to plan ahead this time if we want them to do well!"

"Yeah, I understand, but listen. You can throw a fit about it all you want, but it won't do any good to worry. We've had our paws full with this interview, so of course, we forgot. Like I said, we’ll come up with something on the way, alright?"

Shine sighed. As much as his mind raced with all the sorts of topics he'd have to go through in his next lesson, he needed rest. Curio still looked as cool as a cucumber, even though a part of her body was mutilated. He could've thrown her boulder at her and she would've brushed it off like it was a thin sheet of paper. He wouldn't put it past her if that had happened before.

"Alright, I'll calm down, for now." Shine chuckled, though not because of any joke he told himself in his head. "I don't get it. I wish I could be as calm as collected as you are half the time."

"Really?" Curio pointed to herself. "I don't think I do much different to a lot of people, but thanks. Anyway, if Adele really would turn your ass to grass, we should probably get moving.”

Shine nodded. They left the package at the flat and made their way through the path to the ranch, where the sun barely peered in through the arches of trees above them. Then, there was that familiar flutter of wings Shine knew too well, and then, Bauble tugged at his mane of fur.

“Ah, h-hey!” he yelped. “No need to be so rough!”

“That’s me bein’ gentle, ya know.” Bauble fluttered and stood herself up in front of Shine. “What ya goin’ to the barn place for anyhow? You know I ain’t allowed there.”

“Yes, I’m afraid not,” he said with a sigh, “But I have business there.”

“Oh, sounds important!” Bauble fanned at her face with a wing, posing like an elegant Oricorio. “Not too important for me, is it?”

“Well, we’re late, so we need to get there now.” Shine started walking, but Bauble hopped backwards as he advanced.

“Don’t you have time for me anymore? Can you make some soon, ple--”

“No,” he said quietly, but firmly. “Later.”

Bauble leered at him before letting out one final squawk and flying away.

“Ouch,” Curio said, picking at her ears with a bone swab. “I kind of felt that from her.”

“I’m sorry about that,” he said, “I’ll be sure to talk to her later, I don’t want to leave her hanging.”

“Eh, not my problem, it’s your business.”

And with that, the two advanced down the path until they were greeted with the sight of flapping wings, large, fire-breathing Pokemon and the familiar red barn that served as a nexus for all the goings-on there. They wandered down the path leading to the house, and on the way, they met Adele, the dragon-riding mastermind behind the operations there, clutching an egg. She smiled at the sight of them.

"Oh, hi there!" she said, "How're you two doin'?"

_"Fine, ma'am,"_ Shine said, _"Sorry I’m late.”_

“Hmm.” She glanced at the sun. “Yeah, I guess you are an hour late. As long as it ain’t a habit, I’ll let it slide.”

“ _Thanks. So I take it we have a full day today?"_

"Yup! Feel free to take an hour break in between, and for dinner if you're still up for it tonight. I've got a new accordion, so I'd love you to come and listen later."

_"I'm sure we'll enjoy it."_

"Good!" Adele stroked the egg with her gloved hand. "Petri's just by the bog again, but for now, I gotta take this to the incubator, so I'll see you two later."

The two nodded before Adele headed off to do her own business, and they made their way through the spacious field all the way to where the Goodra nestled in the slimy pit. He waved a goo-coated paw at them as they approached.

"Hey, Mr. Shine and Ms. Curio!" he said, "What're we up to today?"

The duo glanced at each other, trying to find the words to deflect their laziness on the matter, but they gave up and sighed.

"Honestly," Shine said, "We didn't think on it that much, but I'm sure we'll come up with something since there's plenty of time."

"Alright then." Petri rose out of the muddy water and shook his body, sending flecks of slime flying everywhere. Some of it stuck to Shine's coat, which had only been cleaned two days ago. "Lead the way!"

The Luxray ignored the fact a whole bath had just been wasted, and led Petri to their usual spot where they sat in a circle in an open patch of grass undisturbed from the rest of the dragons. Shine reminisced on some of the bits and pieces of their facility days from Curio's interview, and remembered how they improved their craft by learning to read and speak the various passages in their exercise sheets. As far as Shine knew, Petri wasn't taught any of that, if his basic lessons were of any indication.

"Well Petri," he said, "How is your speaking going?"

"Kind of the same, really." The Goodra frowned. "My other teacher hasn't come back since, and Adele's been trying to chase after him to ask what's going on. But yeah, I'm no quicker at talking than I was days ago. You guys make it seem so easy."

"I mean, yeah," Curio said, pointing to herself with false modesty, "We're pretty awesome now, but I kind of sucked at it too."

"But anyway," Shine said, "Would it be helpful to you to practice reading out something?"

"Reading?" He cocked his head. "Nah, I can't read to save my life. He never went into that either."

"Wow," Curio said, digging into her bag, "He does suck. Sorry, but Adele got a really bum deal on picking someone to teach you human."

"It seems that way, but she couldn't find anyone else. She said it took her days to look for someone in the papers, which again, I can't read."

"It would've only taken her a few hours to make a deal with someone online, through a computer,” Shine said. “There are quite a few of us in Ambrette that speak that can be found there. so why didn't she do that?"

"Beats me." Petri shrugged. "I haven't used a computer once, or any device at all. I licked a TV once, but that didn't taste nice."

"Ew." Curio stood up and reached, both arms in, to the wide space within her bag, which laid on the floor. She groaned and grunted, planting her feet firmly on the floor, as if she was engaged in some invisible tug of war, until the bag expanded to three times its size. With great force, Curio eventually pulled a wheelie whiteboard out the size of a wide-screen TV, and once it was out there in the physical world, the bag shrank to its original size.

She wiped the sweat off her furry head before retrieving a few markers from her cave of curiosities, and wrote out a title at the top of the board labelled ‘Curio and Shine's Kickass Reading Lesson!’, with little doodles of her and the Luxray's face at the edge of the board. She turned to the two, who shared a look of perplexity. Shine himself wondered how she even came across that in the first place, before remembering he was still there to teach. He joined Curio not long after, instructing her to write out the alphabet in order. Like Azzy did in their first year, they pronounced all the sounds with the corresponding letters and made Petri repeat it.

"You two." Petri held his slimy paw up. "I'm not sure I see what the point of this is. I thought you'd just teach me to speak, although I do appreciate learning something else."

"I understand that," Shine said, "But the point is understanding which sounds go into each letters, so you can understand how words are structured, then how sentences are constructed. You don't need to learn everything, but you just need to remember these two go paw in paw with each other. Since you want to speak faster, however, we'll work on that. Wipe it away, please."

"Sure, sir," she said with a toothy grin. "Would you like me to wipe your _ass_ for you too?"

"Just do it, please."

"I know, just yankin' your tail."

From there, they volleyed back and forth in human, working through some of Petri's other problem areas, like connecting syllables together, and in a matter of hours, he spoke more clearly and quickly than before. Their session only blossomed from there, so much so that when the scruffy-haired apprentice came huffing and puffing through the field and collapsing in their space, it came as a surprise to all three of them. Shine was the first to check on him.

_"Are you alright?"_ he said. Through his exasperated breaths, the boy gave him a thumbs up, and they allowed him to catch his breath before he sat up, glugging down half a bottle of water.

_"Did your boss make you run across the field again?"_

"Yeah," he said in between breaths. "I misplaced some of the picking tools."

_"Sounds like she puts you through a lot of crap,"_ Curio said, sitting down opposite him. _"Why'd you deal with it?"_

"Eh, it's no problem. I give her a lot of crap too, but Adele's the best, seriously." He poured the last of the water down his forehead and let it drip. "Oh!” His eyes widened and he outstretched his hand to each of them. “Sorry, manners. I’m Jean.”

“ _Jean!”_ Petri repeated.

Shine and Curio said their names and returned the handshake. Jean looked to Curio’s metal arm with a hint of surprise, but said nothing. Instead, he turned to Petri.

“Do you want me to hang out with you for a bit?” Jean said.

Petri cocked his head. _“Are-nt you being pun-ished?”_

“Yeah, well, the missus would want me to be with you anyway. If I’m workin’ with the dragons and all, might as well get to know em’, right?”

He patted his belly, to which, Petri giggled with delight. So he relaxed and propped his head up on Petri's stomach, which looked like a huge pillow, letting himself sink into it. Shine found the image oddly amusing. The apprentice looked so content as well, staring up at the sky while Petri occasionally peered in, covering his face in shadow. The only thing he didn’t quite anticipate was the slime dripping down on his head, and he shivered a little.

“ _Sorry,”_ Petri said, _“I try to control it.”_

“Nah, nah, it’s, er, fine I guess.” Jean looked as if he tried to choose his words carefully to avoid upsetting the goo-excreting dragon, then smiled and ran the slime through his mop of hair. “S-see? It’s like shampoo!”

Petri and Curio giggled, while Shine snickered, still finding it a little gross.

_"You seem_ _to get on well with him,_ _"_ Shine said.

“Yeah, I love these dragons, seriously. Miss always said I had a hunch for flyin’ types, although there’s a lot to learn.”  
He thought back to that botched harness fitting. _“I can see.”_

“But, well, I might have to get going in a few minutes, so how about you join me?”

Shine hesitated, as he didn’t know much about Jean, and had a history with young trainer types before. He turned to Curio, about to ask if they wanted to go off on their own, but she already beat him to it, walking through the fields to rub shoulders with some of the dragon types. Ever the social Butterfree. And yet he was stuck with Jean.

“You don’t have to if you don’t wanna,” he said. “You seem like you’re on the shy side of things.”

“ _Oh,”_ was all Shine could say. He was quite perceptive. At that point, he couldn’t refuse his offer, and so, sat opposite him. _“_ _What gave myself away?”_

“I dunno, just the air you had about you. I saw it in Accy as well. She’s hard to warm up to.”

Shine hummed in reply.

“Not that’s a bad thing, mind. Some Pokemon, well, people are like that. But if I was in your fur, I’d feel the same way too, fightin’ and all that.”

He didn’t know what to make of this, and decided to change the subject. _“So, Petri, do you feel like you’ve been learning a lot?”_

“ _Yeah!”_ Petri squealed, _“You are good teachers!”_

“Good to hear.” Jean patted his belly again and smiled. “It’d be great if I had something like this back in my training days.” He spoke with the air of someone who had already reached their prime, even though he was still young enough to pass for a wide eyed trainer.

“ _Do they not teach you to get Pokemon to speak in the academy then?”_ He already knew the answer, but wanted to hear Jean say it.

“Hardly. But never mind, that’s in the past.” Out of impulse, he reached his hand towards Shine, but he pulled back, warily looking at Jean.

“ _Sorry. I shouldn’t be acting like this. I just don’t like being touched that much by, well, I’m not sure what the word for it is.”_

“That’s fine.” Jean still had his hand raised. “I just wanna make sure we’re on the same level, y’know? I feel like we’ll be seein’ each other more.”

He looked at his hand again, and eventually, Shine relented and let him stroke his mane. While he didn’t fully give himself into it like he did with Tony, that soft hand still felt nice against his rough fur. For the boy's age, he carried himself well, and because of that, Shine much preferred this quiet sort of moment as opposed to the shrieking toddlers from two nights before.

Something beeped, and slowly, Jean stood up, patting Petri on the belly again.

“Well, I gotta run. Missus wants me to see the new egg. Have fun, you two.”

Petri waved him goodbye while Shine nodded, watching him disappear into the fields. In turn, Curio came along with a little patch of singed fur on one of her tufts.

“What happened?”

“Got a bit carried away with one of the Charizard. That’ll teach me not to play with fire, I guess.” She winked at Petri. “So, up for part two of our _kickass_ lesson?”

Petri nodded, and from there, the rest of the afternoon flew by fairly quickly. By then, it had turned cloudy, and not only was there a slight rumble in the sky, far away, there was commotion from an assortment of Dragonite. Shine turned to see saw a crowd of them gathering around something at the other side of the field, nearby the wall of trees. He looked to Curio, whose eyes were fixated on the middle of the scene. Then, she stood up.

“Wait, we’ve still got our lesson,” Shine said.

“I know, but follow me,” she said. "You might wanna see this."

She didn't stop to explain herself and ran into the open fray. Shine joined and tried to catch up, until they were side by side with each other again, heading towards the source of commotion. They were greeted with the backsides of various Dragonite and other dragon types, who formed a wall around something, though they didn’t know what exactly. The dragon’s tails swished through the air, as if entertained by something.

“What are we looking at?” Shine said.

“That Dragonite you taught,” Curio said, “She’s gettin’ beat up pretty badly by one of the alphas.”

Shine’s jaw dropped, and he looked towards the scene, trying to pick out what was going on. He heard growls and cries through the other end, and with the help of his golden vision, filtered out the rest of the crowd to look at the two Dragonite in the middle. There was none other than Accendare, whose slim body was covered from head to paw in various bruises and cuts as they wept on the floor. On the right was one much taller and stockier than her, fists raised in preparation to strike. Shine vaguely remembered him from the day he first went to the ranch, as the smug looking Bally.

"Geddup!" he said, face contorted with malice, "I wanna see you fight me like the Dragonite you are!"

Accendare shivered, trying to prop herself up with her front paws, but stumbled and fell to the floor once more.

"Please," she croaked. "No more. I don't- I don't wanna fight. Just, let me--"

Bally leapt towards her and pulled her up by her elbows, only to throw a right hook to her face. She fell backwards onto another Dragonite, who pinned her up with his arms. A mixture of blood, saliva and tears flowed down her face.

"Wrong answer. Try again."

"E-eenough." Accendare struggled to talk, as her face grew more swollen.

He threw another hook, making a pounding sound like a mallet tenderising a slab of meat. Shine cringed at the sight of it.

"Bally, just stop it!" One female Dragonite called out, who Shine remembered as Lyra. "She hasn't done anything!"

"Shut up!" he spat. "All this mare does is whine and complain, and I'm sick of hearin' it! She doesn't fight for herself, she's scrawnier than scrawny, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her eat! She's just weak!" Bally grabbed Accendare's bloodied face with both his meaty paws. "This'll be a good lesson for you, runt."

A part of Shine's memories came back to him. Specifically, he flashed back to those facility days when he was still a Shinx, when M was still around, and other memories Shine had repressed, but always served as a reminder for why his eye ended up the way it did. All those times he had to fight to prove himself. All those times he cried alone when no one was there to take his side during detention. All culminating in that moment where…

He shook his head. That was something he didn’t want to deal with now. He just wanted it to stop. Step by step, he walked towards the horde, but his hindlegs wobbled with fear. What was he doing? He was going against a dragon, but why? He know why, but he was just a Luxray, a lion, and that Dragonite was a hulking mass of horsepower. Everything told him to stop, and yet, he kept walking.

“Hey, earth to Shine?” Curio said, “What are ya--”

“Hold on,” Shine said, not turning back, “I want to help.”

“Wait, hold up!” Curio reached towards him, trying to drag him back, but that only solidified his resolve. He sprang towards the horde, weaving through the those load-bearing tails, and squeezed in through the dragon crowd until he was in the fray, standing in front of the bawling Dragonite. He imagined himself as a father Luxray taking care of one of his frail cubs.

In turn, Bally towered above Shine and scowled at him, who undoubtedly looked microscopic when viewed from that level.

"Oh, you’re here," he said, pounding a fist against the flat of his other paw. "Whaddya want?"

Shine felt his legs turn to lead. However, he swallowed and took a few steps forward anyway, confronting the behemoth.

"What do you think you're doing to her?" he spoke quietly, but firmly, like Tony often did whenever he put his foot down.

"Oh, nothing." Bally clasped his paws together. "Just teachin’ this wimp somethin’."

"That's my student you're dealing with. I'm not having any of it while I'm here."

"Oh yeah?" He guffawed, and most of the other dragons joined him, save for Lyra. "What are you gonna do about it, talk at me to death? You'd probably make everyone here die of boredom anyway with your speaking lessons! Tell me, whaddo we need to speak like humans for anyway? We're not them, are we?"

"That's not the point." Shine planted his front paws firmly into the ground, charging up his field for an attack, but in truth, he was doing everything in his power to stop himself pouncing at the monster. He didn't want to lose his head before the main event, figuratively or literally. "Lay another claw on her and I'll make you regret it."

Bally glanced to his sides, and step by step, advanced towards Shine, leaving huge marks in the earth beneath him. A dark cloud started to form above them. If all went well, Shine would be able to send a warning without damaging anyone.

“You know, I’d really like to see you try. Let’s see how that goes. When you make the first move, I’ll make sure you know your place, bug.” At that point, raindrops poured down on each of their heads, but Bally only grinned. “So you made it rain. Congrats, I guess. Sucks for you, because it’s my turn now.” He expanded his wings and started stepping back to wind up his attack.

Lighting struck from far away, making the sky around them flash with a brilliant light. Something crackled in the distance, and lo and behold, the biggest tree came crashing down towards the group. They all dispersed, flying in different directions. Shine made sure to dodge for the oncoming strike, from either Bally or the tree. It was chaos. Dragons cried in different pitches and shrieks, wings flapped haphazardly as far as the eye could see, and as the smouldering bark came crashing down with a thud on the ground, it threw everyone affected into a panic. The moment it happened, Shine instantly regretted it. He ran through the open space, hoping that Bally wasn’t too far away, but soon enough, he no longer felt his feet touching the ground. He screamed when he realised what was happening as the world below him shrank. Shine was in the air, alone with the flying beast.

“Bad news, buddy!” Bally shouted, “Now you’re gonna be food for the Fletchling!”

His grip on the Luxray’s stomach released.

The world spun before Shine, turning completely upside down. He could no longer control his body. He felt cold. Then it hit him that he was in very grave danger. He would hit the ground, probably break all of his bones and send his guts flying everywhere. He couldn’t die there. There was so much he had left to talk about, so much he wanted to experience, so many places he wanted to go with Curio and Tony and all the like. He needed to make up for lost time. All of his dreams and regrets came rushing back to him, much like how the wind rushed against him below.

That was, until he got caught again, and the world stood still once more. The whiplash, however, was enough to make him spew out the contents of his breakfast. Wings whipped past his head, which he recognised as belonging to another Dragonite, but he couldn’t make out who, either because of his limited view or his nausea. Shine wouldn’t know until they slowly lowered themselves onto the field and lightly dropped Shine down on the soft grass. He toppled on his side, and as he caught his breath, he tried to catch a glimpse of who saved him, but the image in front of him was out of focus. Someone spoke, but he couldn’t make out what they said. In time, his vision gave out, and he fainted.

* * *

After the familiar hang ups of waking up from an unconscious spell, Shine found himself lying on a bed in a grey room, with a mix of the clinical smells of a Pokemon Centre with the pungency of a barn. He appeared to be in some sort of infirmary, probably where the dragons were being treated, with flashing machines and chambers fixed to the walls for some unknown purpose. In one side of the room, there was a lone Pokeball sitting inside a healing station, who he hoped was Accendare. In another, there was the green egg Adele had towed away in the morning, proudly displayed in the room with an orange glow. Aside from that, the room was otherwise dim.

Light entered the room as the door opened, and Curio, Adele and Jean walked in, each sharing a look of concern.

“Are you alright now?” Adele said, “Can you stand?”

Shine got to his feet and balanced himself on the mattress without much issue. That feeling of mid-flight sickness had long since subsided.

“ _Um,”_ Shine said, feeling somewhat responsible for his own plight, “ _What happened?”_

“ _Basically,”_ Curio said, _“Everything went kinda crazy after you hit that tree, but Adele was there to wrangle everyone back here, I guess.”_

Before he fainted, he remembered seeing two images in front of him, although he couldn’t discern who they belonged to.

“ _So, who saved me?”_

Adele punched Jean in the shoulder, making him flinch. “You have this guy to thank for that.”

“Did you have to hit me, boss?” he said, rubbing his bruise. “But yeah, I didn’t even think about getting the harness, I just got on Lyra’s back and chased after that other Dragonite.” He broke into a wide grin. “Didn’t even have any flight experience, it was a bloody miracle!”

“That’s what we call flyer’s instinct, my boy. If today’s anything to go by, you might just be a natural born rider!”

“Aw,” Jean ruffled at his scruffy hair, “You’re makin’ me blush. Does this mean I can stop cleaning the latrines?”

“Well, we’ll see. But for now, you two...” She patted both Jean and Curio on the back. “Why don’t you two go outside for a minute so I can talk to Shine?”

While Jean obliged, Curio crossed her arms.

“ _Why? He’s my friend, I wanna talk to him first!”_

“I get that. But I need to discuss something with him in private.”

“ _Not much point.”_ She pointed a metallic finger at herself. _“I’m a Lucario, remember? There’s nothing stopping me from spyin’ on your talk anyhow.”_

“Yeah,” Adele couldn’t help but smile, “Didn’t think of that. But can you just head outside to give us some space anyway? It’s important.”

“ _Right, fine.”_ Before Curio exited the room, she turned to Shine and made a slashing gesture with her own neck and pointed to the perspirating Luxray. When the door shut, it was just the two of them alone in that dark room with all the equipment pulsing in the background. Adele stood at the edge of the bed and propped her hands down on the rails. Her facial expression looked familiar to Shine, from around the time she first told Jean off when they first met.

“Shine, what were you thinking attacking Bally?”

Her tone of voice was calm, but that somehow made it even more foreboding for Shine.

“ _Adele, miss, please,”_ he said, trying to maintain his composure, _“He attacked another Dragonite.”_

“You attacked my prized Dragonite!” She punctuated this by bashing one of her hands on the metal bedframe. “If that tree crushed him, you’d be more than just millions in debt, you’d be put down. You should thank your lucky stars that no one was hurt.”

“ _He hurt Accy!”_ At that point, Shine pounced on the duvet, no longer hiding his contempt for Bally. _“He beat her senseless, and now she’s being healed up here! Do you think I was just going to watch him go even further than that and kill her?”_

“He wouldn’t have done that. Either me or someone else his size would’ve stepped in. You just went on your own accord.”

“ _But that still doesn’t make it alright! You can’t just let him get away with this!”_

“Which I’m not. He’s being held in his Pokeball until he’s calmed down a bit. We'll certainly do our best to punish him, but there's not much else we can do to stop the bullying after that. They are Pokemon of nature, after all."

_"I'm a Pokemon, though!"_ He advanced closer to Adele, at level with her waist, and looked up at her. _"You say that as if they can't be reasoned with. After all this about teaching Petri to speak, you're talking about them as if they're mindless beasts! Oh god, not this again!"_

A stinging sensation flashed through Shine's head, and images of the facility came rushing back to him, of all the fights, of all the times they didn't intervene, about everything. The weight of his memories made Shine roll to his side in pain, like his head had just been smashed against a wall. Adele rushed to his side and rubbed his forehead. A moment passed, and after the pain subsided, Shine sat on his hindquarters and tears streamed down his cheeks. The dragon rancher knelt down opposite him and coursed her fingers through his mane.

"Hey there." She completely dropped the scolding tone from before in favour of something more soothing. "You're really taking this personally, aren't you?"

_"Of course I am,"_ he said, sniffling, _"I-_ _I had my fair share of fights, and t-t-that was all well and good, but they didn’t stop.”_ He looked to the side. _“They didn’t stop. And because of that, they left me with scars that will never heal.”_

He blinked his one eye, and Adele covered her mouth with her gloved hand. She must've understood the gesture. _"If it wasn't for a certain friend, I would've died, and let me tell you from experience, if you do nothing to stop this from happening, it will escalate. You'll have Accy's blood on your hands."_

Adele sighed and joined Shine on the bed, wrapping an arm around him.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I can understand how scarring that must've been for you. I do care about Accy, you know. I care about every dragon on this ranch. And I know that you, and Bally, and most, if not all Pokemon, can be intelligent like us. You certainly are." Her grip tightened on the Luxray.

"But you have to understand, those dragons, especially Bally, they're huge, they're powerful, and the fact they know it is even more terrifying than if they weren't so smart. Most of them came from a wild background, you see. They pride themselves on that strength and wear it like a badge of honour. Accy was born here, and isn't very competitive, you see, and so, that makes her an easy target."

_"I wasn't competitive either."_

"I get that. And I wanna make sure the same thing that happened to you won't happen to her. But she’ll either she'll have to toughen herself up, or we'll have to double her training workload. She can't have Lyra stepping in to bail her out all the time; she goes through enough stress as it is."

Shine gave a deflated sigh and slumped to the bed. As much as he hated this whole situation, there was little point with arguing any longer. Adele was the boss of her own ranch, with limited time on her hands, and he was just a Luxray, a small, insignificant Pokemon in her debt. It wasn't his place to make suggestions on her behalf. And deep down, he knew she was right. If it wasn’t for those trials and tribulations he went through, he wouldn’t have found the strength to live on and fight for oneself, even if it was tough at times. When he put the past few hours into consideration, and Adele's own views of Bally together, he rose to his feet.

_"Miss, how much is Bally worth, not just for rent?"_

"Well, from a list of potential clients, I'd say about, twelve million Pokedollars?"

_"Twelve mil--"_ He cut himself off, and tensed his throat. _"Oh no, am I fired?"_

Adele burst into laughter, clutching her stomach. "Don't be silly! I'm not lettin' you go that easily! You've still got quite a few lessons ahead of you!"

_"Good,"_ he said, breathing a sigh of relief. _"I've started enjoying the time spent with Petri."_

"Exactly what I wanna hear." Adele stood up and gestured to the door. “You're dismissed for now, so I'll see you on Sunday at noon, but Shine, one last warning. If you attack any of my dragons again, I'll send your ass flying off so high in the air, Arceus will be able to see you rise above the clouds before you fall to your death. Understood?"

_"Yes, miss."_

“You can get dinner somewhere else for now. I’m fine with you coming some other time, but not today, okay?”

Shine nodded and leapt off the bed and stood on his hindpaws to pull open the infirmary door. Down there on a patch of grass, he saw Curio sitting with Jean, close to one another, which seemed a rare sight for him. Rather than step out and interrupt the conversation, he stood there and hoped Curio didn't hear it creak.

"...so, that's when Dad kicked me out," Jean said.

_"Shit, man,"_ Curio said. _"That kinda sucks. I guess you had a pretty good idea of where you wanted to go, right?"_

"Nope. Didn't have a home for a few days, then, I just happened to hear about this place. Knew next to nothing about training dragons, either."

_"So you pretty much landed on your feet then."_

"Kind of. I just hope after all this time, I made the right choice. Training would've been safer, I guess."

_"Well.”_ She put her paw on his lap. _“I’d like to think you did the right thing. You took that risk and it paid off. That's more than I can say for most, human or Pokemon, I'd say. I know you're listening, Shine."_

The Luxray let out a shrill cry as he headed out the door at last, to the bemusement of the two.

_"Sorry,"_ he said, _"I didn't mean to be rude."_

_"Well, I'm not one to talk, am I?"_ Curio flashed her signature toothy grin. _"I know Adele gave you a right bollocking, didn't she?"_

_"B-_ _b_ _ollocking."_ Shine stumbled on those words. _"Is that your human word of the day?"_

_"Well, it's a word."_ Curio rose to her feet and joined Shine. _"Jean, it's been nice speakin' to ya. We'll be coming back on Sunday, so we'll probably see you then."_

“ _And thank you so much for saving me.”_ Shine bowed. _“I’m in debt to two people now.”_

"Ha, no sweat. Well, see ya." Jean waved at the two before they made their own way out of the ranch.

Shine and Curio trekked through the tree-shaded path leading out from the ranch. Despite the previous spurt of thunder, the sky was still clear, drenched in a red haze as it approached night, casting the two’s shadowy faces in faint dots of dappled light. However darkened by shade, the look on the Lucario’s face was more than welcoming to him as she smirked.

“You seem pleased,” he said.

As if on queue, she chuckled and nudged Shine’s side with her foot.

“You brave little idiot, I never would’ve expected you to take on a freakin’ Dragonite.”

“I didn’t either. I just couldn’t control myself though, not after seeing what he put Accy through.”

“Couldn’t blame ya, mate.”

A moment passed in silence as they got closer to entering back into Ambrette. It was during that period that Shine remembered Curio had probably eavesdropped on the whole conversation with him and Adele, and so, he looked back at her, more serious this time.

“Don’t you think it’s wrong, though? Adele doesn't seem that bothered about stopping it from happening again.”

“Yeah, I heard, and yeah, it sucks, but there’s not a lot we can do to stop that either. No interfering, remember? I certainly don’t wanna see your _ass_ punted into space.”

“Then, what, are we just supposed to let it happen in front of us? You never would’ve done that with me years ago.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But that was out of everyone’s control.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Shine stopped and kicked at the dirt. “They should’ve known what would happen. They should’ve reached out to him before it was too late.”

“They made mistakes, sure, but hey, for now, we can at least help Accy out by talking to her, just so she knows we’re there to listen. Or threaten that _douchey_ Dragonite. We’ll deal with that next time though. For now--” She patted her stomach. “Let’s get some grub at Tony’s.”

He took a deep breath, wanting to talk more about what happened, but there was still the interview to worry about. That would give him ample time to vent about GeL, at last, for the first time in ages.


	27. Finding (M)y Paws

Curio and Shine made the familiar journey through to Ambrette, where they watched the sun sink down and the last of the Postmon making their rounds to various places, until they arrived at Tony’s apartment where they were greeted with the master of the house lounging on the couch, bare-chested.

“ _Woah!”_ Curio said in mock surprise. _“Cover your shame, man!”_

Tony smirked as he shifted his body to leave some space for the two. “That’s rich coming from someone that doesn’t even wear clothes.”

The two joined him, with Curio sitting on the opposite end and Shine sitting in the middle, sandwiched between them.

“Thanks for getting the delivery sorted,” Tony said, “So how was it today?”

Shine opened his mouth to say he almost got killed protecting another Dragonite, but decided against it and swallowed his words. _“Same as before. Petri’s making progress already.”_

“Good to hear.” His trainer coursed his hand through Shine’s coat and twirled a particularly sticky strand of fur where the slime splattered. “And of course, it didn’t take long for him to get familiar with you.”

“ _Oh, sorry.”_

“It’s not a big deal, I can always hose you down for a minute of two if need be. Speaking of which, your fur’s looking a little grubby too, Curio. It’d be nice if you went in for a clean at some point.”

Shine glanced at Curio, and indeed, there were several dark splotches on her blue and yellow coat, smelling faintly of mud.

“ _Yeah,”_ she said, rolling her eyes. _“Whatever, Dad. So what’s for dinner? I’m effing starving.”_

“Well to be honest, I was banking on you two getting something at Adele’s like last time, but screw it, I’ll just order something.”

“ _Is that fine, though?”_ Shine asked. _“Wouldn’t that be a bit expensive?”_

“Eh, it’s the weekend anyway, so screw it. How does that sound?”

“ _Awesome.”_

And so, they browsed through whatever was available on Tony’s phone, and after umming and ahhing about their choices for a few minutes, placed their order and waited until the doorbell rang not long after. A Pidgeot arrived with a bundle of food and waited for them to collect it before zipping away in the air, leaving the group to chow down on a mix of various cuisines in the dining room. For Shine, the air was thick with the smells of succulent meats, spices and sauces, and the tastes matched the scents, if a bit too greasy for his liking. Everything in moderation, he supposed.

“Sho,” Tony said, chewing on some Miltank ribs, “I’ve got shome great newsh.”

“ _Well,”_ Curio said, pointing at him with a Farfetch’d leg, _“Say it, don’t spray it.”_

Tony swallowed before he continued. “The Primarina’s awake and has recovered from the decompression chamber, but she’s still being taken care of in the surgery unit. However, now this means you two can go in and ask whatever questions you like, since I know you’ve been curious all this time.”

“ _Could we do that tomorrow?”_ Shine said. _“Plus, Curio’s been itching to see the aquarium, so could we go there on the way as well?”_

“ _I woulthth shay ithing, buth...”_ Curio said with a mouthful.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Tony said. “In fact, I was thinking we could make a day out of it. We could prepare something for lunch and have a nice picnic!”

“ _Heh.”_ Curio picked something out of her teeth with a claw. _“What, are we gonna play dress up as well or somethin’?”_

“I wouldn’t tempt fate,” Tony said with a grin. “But that way, we can record some footage of you two together for some B-reel shots while we’re there. Of course, I’ll need paperwork from the both of you, confirming you can keep this matter private.”

“ _Unhh. Boring.”_

“I know, but it’s important for me to be able to trust both of you, please. You only need to read the slips and sign, that’s all I ask, and then you can fire away. Deal?”

“ _Deal.”_ The two said in unison. Tony smiled as he took another bite.

“Now leth enjoy thith.”

They finished dinner and left the messy kitchen behind to go back to the studio, where Tony did all the lighting preparations from before, alongside setting up his newly arrived equipment, before they started recording away for the third day with Curio on the couch.

“Continuing interview B, segment GeL, part two, take one. So, after the first year, I know the events of the second year were a little tough on all the subjects.”

“ _Yeah,”_ Curio said, frowning, _“It was, something me and Shine know all too well.”_

“What did the second year entail in particular?”

“ _Well, the usual stuff. Like that old man said before, we had quite a lot of freedom this time around. I could finally focus on my art, which was great for me, and everyone else was encouraged to do their own thing and find out what sort of life they wanted to live. Some knew what they wanted to do right away, like Basil, and some were still finding their feet, like Shine. This would decide what we would focus on for the rest of the years there. So, on paper, that doesn’t sound too bad. But...”_

Curio paused, letting the echo-chamber of the room punctuate the silence. She waved a paw to Tony, gesturing him to respond.

“But,” he continued, “what happened?”

“ _Something awful. Something truly awful.”_

“What is it?” Tony asked in a grave tone. Curio waited for a few seconds, then smiled.

“ _Puberty.”_ She snickered, stifling herself with her paw, which Shine rolled his eyes at. _“You know how much drama there is in some place like high school, or at least, from what I’ve seen in flicks and all that. It was kind of like that. Everyone’s hormones start going crazy, and next thing you know, there’s a psychic throwing chairs everywhere in the cafeteria. Good times.”_ She crossed her arms and straightened her face. _“Seriously though, it got hard in a few places. And unfortunately, not every student was really fit to be there, to be honest. But you’ll put two and two together once you hear the rest of it. And Shine—”_ Curio glanced at the Luxray, who sat up, _“I hope you’re ready to talk about some stuff that happened to you, if you haven’t already.”_

Shine nodded wordlessly, not wanting to say much until the timing was right.

“ _For now though, Tony, fire away on something less depressing.”_

—

**(So after Cartwright** **’s speech, I take it you did a lot with these newfound freedoms. What did you do in particular, and how does that tie into what decisions you made throughout the year?)**

Hmm. Well, to start with, we were finally allowed to visit each other’s bases in our own time, or even stay in them or switch around. Since they were no longer concerned about the wild grouping thing, they pretty much let us go wherever we wanted. Hell, this was apparent on the first day, when pretty much everyone in the domestic base moved into ours at once and set up camp. Basil mingled with the other wild Pokemon in our group while Pecha fawned over the cuter looking ones. Bran the Machoke sat under the shade, looking like he was about to doze off against one of the trees, the Roselia Lorelei started studying all the flowers with a magnifying glass, while P.Z. had his paws stuck on a handheld gaming thing with two screens. The only guy missing was that yellow devil. This came as a surprise to all of us, particularly me, as I went to Basil first.

“Um, hi,” I said. “Are you moving in here now?”

“Well, maybe not,” Basil said, “we’ll see. If we’re not wanted here, we’ll move back.”

“But,” Floatsam said, in the middle of being pet by the Chansey, “I like you guys!”

Basil smiled. “I like you too. But, we’re having some problems in our own base at the moment.” He nervously tugged at his large tongue. “Um, it’s about, erm--”

“Abraxas, ‘kay?” P.Z. said, mashing the buttons. “He’s bein’ an _ass_ again.”

I groaned. “Isn’t he always?”

“Even more of an _ass_. He won’t pick his _crap_ up, leaving notes everywhere and stuff, and keeps takin’ up everyone’s space.” He stuck his tongue out. “That, and the way he talks just makes me wanna punch the _MFer_.”

“Well,” Basil said, still tugging, “I wouldn’t go that far. He has his, um, redeeming qualities. He can be quite helpful whenever I’m stuck on one subject. Even though he insults me for it.”

“Pretty sure that ain’t helpin’,” P.Z.chimed in. “Just stickin’ his snout where it don’t belong.”

“Perhaps.” Basil sighed, looking defeated. “But anyway, we all agreed to give him some room. Maybe we aren’t enough for his dizzying intellect.”

“Hmm,” Bran said, sitting up, “I think you are too kind to him, Basil. You shouldn’t let him take advantage of that.”

“Ah well, I like to give every Mon a second chance.”

“What works best for you.” Bran put his arms behind his back and closed his eyes, making himself at home already. Anyway, I sort of felt happy that I’d be mingling with my friends from the other base, even if Pecha had a habit of tugging on my aura sensors and calling me cute. Okay, granted, I was, but still, a sense of personal space never hurt anybody.

I wouldn’t have really mentioned this if it wasn’t for M. Well, M wasn’t there at the base at first, but when everybody else came in, he suddenly appeared with that Manectric leading him into the base. Aside from Shine and Patches, Bolt was also M’s tutor, though I didn’t know why at the time. What struck me as odd at first was how Bolt looked at M with concern, something even Liam would’ve done whenever he caught me and my brothers in the aftermath of a nasty scrape. And he had a right to be concerned, as I felt it too when I saw M’s marks. Faded scratch marks and bruises covers his face and torso. I say faded because they must’ve been treated as soon as they found him in that state, but the fact those scars appeared on his body in the only places he could’ve reached with his own paws rubbed me the wrong way. With a wordless sigh, Bolt led him to his usual sitting spot, eyed me once, and left the room. We stared at M curiously, wanting to ask about those weird marks, but not plucking up the courage, knowing his behaviour. At least, not until Pecha stepped in, offering a paw.

“Aw, do you need some help? There, I’m gonna make it feel all—”

Before it even happened, Basil pulled her out of the way, saving her from being bopped on the head with a sudden bone club.

“Alright!” Basil said in shock, “Settle down!”

He didn’t respond to that and stood in his battle stance, eyeing the two. M was about to swipe at them again when I yanked on his paw, drawing his attention towards me. His eyes were hollow and deep, like a part of him wasn’t there anymore. I wanted him to come to his senses, and so, trying anything to see what would work, I slapped him across the face. To my relief, his eyes looked normal again, and he seemed aware of what he did as he dropped the bone club. Basil and Pecha, though, still looked cautious.

“Maybe we should give him some space, Pecha, shouldn’t we?” Basil said.

“But he looked so hurt…”

“Yes, I know, but there’s not much we can do. I would just keep your distance from now on, alright?”

She looked at M once more before nodding. While she wasn’t really satisfied about it, Basil did a good enough job at convincing her that she forgot M’s presence and moved onto petting Fernes behind the ears. I turned to M, leading him to a corner of the room, and glared at him.

“What’s wrong with you, huh?” I said. “Why’d you try and hurt my friends?”

He stared down at his feet, aura still as opaque as ever, but still clearly guilty. “Sorry. Got startled.”

I didn’t want to prattle on about it, any more, so I just brushed it aside and said okay, letting him go back to his own spot. I didn’t bother to ask him about those injuries either, though I know I should’ve in hindsight.

**(I see. And the director mentioned that you** **’d be able to pick your own topics to study as well. What did that entail?)**

Well, there was the selection day that decided all of that, for starters. I’m sure you went through something like that at some point in whatever school you went to. But anyways, we were called into the battle arena, which was arranged so that some of the staff Pokemon had their own desks where they could work, and would wait for us to hand in our interest sheets so we could have an in-depth chat on what to do. We were told to write down what we had in mind for our future paths, and most of us got on fine since most of us learnt how to read without fail and could write to a certain extent; even the ones that weren’t bipedal used their freaking mouths to write. I couldn’t imagine doing that myself to be honest, although these flesh mittens aren’t really the best to write with anyway. I knew what I wanted to do at the beginning, so I was confident I could follow a certain path and stick with it.

The others, not so much. We were gathered in groups while we waited to be called by the staff, so I got a chance to see what everyone else was doing. From my base, Hans kept staring at the sheet, scribbling and rubbing things out with the pencil as he gripped it with one of his tails. He had stuff written down from drumming to volleyball, but nothing very concrete and focused. I glanced at the other subjects in my base. The rest seemed to do fine, and by the rest, I meant Floatsam and Fernes, who chose firefighting and history respectively. The other two, well, Gastly wasn’t there for obvious reasons. It’s not like a spooky ball of terror really has plans other than to, you know, spook stuff. Most surprisingly, or not surprisingly depending on how you look at it, M was there, but he didn’t even have a sheet on him. He just stared at the turf, looking like quite the sorry Marowak there. His aura was tense, though with it being so hard to look into, I couldn’t pin down why. Before I could make out more of it, Shine rubbed against me, holding the sheet in his maw.

“Oh hey,” I said, rubbing his head. “What’s up?”

He spat it out and looked rather downcast as well.

“Oh, nothing. I’m just a bit worried.”

“You’re always worried,” I said. “Loosen up a bit.”

“Yeah, I know, but—” His mouth trembled. “Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do. All I put down was reading and learning about stories. How is that going to be of any use?”

His aura was filled with concern, and that sort of rubbed off on me, but I tried to smile and deflect that tense energy.

“Did you wanna pick that?” I said.

“Yes, of course. It’s just, everyone else is doing something important, like scouting for injured Pokemon, or doing flower science, or cooking, and look what I’m doing!”

“Well, I just picked art, and that’s not really important. Least I don’t think so.”

“You always seem so sure of yourself,” he said, then scratched at his little mane. “Oh, why can’t I just be like that too? Each time I talk, I always screw something up!”

“Oh, quit beating yourself up.” I rubbed at his head. “Keep talking like that and I’ll end up shocking you like Patches as well.”

“But, you can’t even learn Electric moves!”

“Yeah, I know. It’s called a joke.”

“Oh.” He faced away from me and kept silent after that. Even without my aura, I could tell he wanted to get away from that situation. Part of me felt guilty for that little comment, but I didn’t dwell on it and zoned out for a little bit, until…

“Next, Curio!”

My tail jolted in excitement and I sprang towards the selection desk, where I had to be lifted onto the chair to even be able to talk face to face with the Assistant Director, who was of course, Lucy the Gardevoir. There was a sharp sense to her aura and a confident smile as well. Confident as she was, I couldn’t imagine that frilly dress being very comfortable to wear for her type, especially with that chest spike of her own. What is it with us two legged Pokemon and spikes?

“Well, hello again,” she said. “I hope you’re doing well, Curio. I know things might’ve been a bit difficult without your family around.”

“Uh huh.” That kind of opened up an old wound, though I didn’t want to call her out on it since she was the one that had to break the news. “It’s kinda better now though. Thanks for asking.”

“Of course. I was the one who nominated you for the awards in the recent ceremony for your troubles, by the way.”

“Okay,” was all I could say. Wow, I really had a lot of interesting stuff to say then, didn’t I? Still, it was a little awkward, and that ceremony wasn’t exactly the Combee’s knees, but I knew I was there to hand in my stuff so I could talk about my interests. I placed the sheet and sketchbook on the table, which she took in her leafy hand and examined with an intense focus, flicking through the pages. My work wasn’t really a masterpiece, so I didn’t have very high hopes for what she’d think, but I knew I was there to learn and would take anything she had to say on the chin. And once she was done, she closed the sketchbook and gazed back at me.

“You said you wanted to draw, hmm. I know you’ve been doing a lot of that in the first year, and I’m pleased you’ve gone this far with your hobby. We wouldn’t have ordered more sketchbooks if that wasn’t the case. But, these drawings have lots of room for improvement, unfortunately.”

I read between the lines and took the hint that my drawings were still pretty bad, but no matter, I wasn’t expecting to be showered with praise. “I know.” I showed my paws to her. “There ain’t a lot I can do with these. But I know I wanna do it anyway, cuz it feels good.”

“Understandable. I’m sure your writing classes must’ve helped, however, art theory is another thing aside from penmanship. Still, we can teach you, so you can work within your limits. But what is your goal? Do you want to just be good, or do you want to aim for the stars?”

“I dunno. I’m just a Pokemon, so it’s not like I can do cool things like, I dunno, be a famous drawer or painter or whatever.”

“Don’t be silly, girl.” She leaned forward and smacked her leaf-like paws on the table. “You’re in Gestalt Learning, we have the means to make you into what you wish. If I gave up when I first started as a Ralts, I wouldn’t be here right now. Think bigger than that and go even further. If you wanted to be a painter, there are some Pokemon like you who’ve had their works put up in galleries already, so why not aim for that?”

I was left speechless. Truth be told, that was a bit of a morale booster, especially after all the uncertainty surrounding my mates, but being encouraged to do something that big, surprisingly enough, made me feel small. She must’ve seen I was nervous, so she backed away and her expression softened, looking less like she wanted to tear out my heart and eat it.

“Ahem. Your human partner is Lexy, isn’t he?”

“Um, I think so?” We were often assigned whenever I had a review session, where I’d test my language skills and chew the fat about whatever we wanted, but it hadn’t been made official.

“Mmm, hmm.” She grabbed a pen and scribbled in notes, focusing hard on the paper as if she was trying to read its mind. “I’ll see if I can arrange a trip with you and him. You’ll be able to go into the outside world, see for yourself what’s possible, and also discuss it with someone who’s had his fingers in a few pies, so to speak.”

My jaw dropped when she mentioned the outside world. Ever since I got the photo album back from Mom, I often dreamed about going to the places they visited and walking the streets like we were tourists on vacation. We hadn’t set foot or paw out of the facility ever, so being given the chance to like that was like getting a brand new games console for Yuletide, if that’s what humans usually get.

“Really?” I stood up on the seat and wagged my tail in excitement. “I’m gonna go out, like, out out so soon?”

“Yes. On two conditions. One.” She held out one finger. “Stick with Lexy at all times and be on your best behaviour. No straying away or, his whiteness forbid, pee on anything that isn’t yours. If you’re to be like a human, you have to set an example. And two.” She held out the other finger. “Don’t talk about Gestalt Learning in public, not to your partner or to random strangers. Nobody here is allowed to reveal their ties to this project for any reason whatsoever.”

“Why?”

Her intense gaze returned, as well as that sense of unease from when I first met her. “Let’s not get into that right now. I don’t want to worry you too much, but trust us, it’s very important that you be careful of what you say in the outside world. Can I trust you to follow these conditions?”

I was about to say something else, but in the end, I just nodded, sensing I had to change the subject. Not that the thought left me, just that it was hard to press her on it when she had more power over me. Still, she relaxed and smiled in turn, letting me know that I was in the clear.

“Your tutor will let you know when you can go, but in the mean time, think about what you’d like to do. I’ll see you around.”

I leapt out of my seat and dashed through the hallway. I skipped as I ran, and would’ve shouted my lungs out if I felt like it, just to express my excitement. I didn’t care where I went, as we were allowed to roam the hallways as we pleased for our second year, so I got that out of my system before I slowed down to a brisk pace and walked back to my own base.

Aside from that, the next few days were uneventful until I was called by one of the mediators to go to the security doors. There, that Machamp Henry stood guard as Lexy waited there, greeting me along the way.

“ _Right,”_ Henry said, crossing his four arms. _“You’re headin’ to a public place, so I gots words for both of you.”_ He turned to Lexy first. _“Keep a close eye on her, you hear? Might be her first time, so if anythin’ happens while she’s out, it’s your funeral.”_

Lexy nodded, nonplussed. The Machamp turned to me next. “And you, no runnin’ around wherever you wanna. You’ll be walkin’ with lots of humans, but you’ll be indoors, so you’ll be safe. If you goes wanderin’ off on your own, though, I don’t think Miss Gardy’ll be pleased. Got that?”  


“R-right!” I mean, how else would I have reacted to a four armed behemoth like him? He probably could’ve snapped my limbs off like Miltank Jerky if I got on his bad side again. I took his word though, and when he sensed we were both clear on the risks involved, he smiled and drew out a Pokeball.

“ _You know, it’ll be a blast goin’ with you. They have a thing on famous Machamp pants and belts, don’t they?”_

Lexy nodded. I internally scoffed at the idea, although I wasn’t entirely sure how to picture an exhibit on those thing, especially if that thing about their pants being skin is true. Oh yeah, everybody come and check out the skin exhibit. Sounds like a great way to bring the kids and Pokemon together. But whatever. Machamp presented the ball to me, and once I touched it, I got sucked in, staying in that void for what felt like an eternity before I got taken out.

Once I emerged from the white light, I was presented with the insides of a fancy looking building. That’s the only thing I could’ve called it at the time, but thinking closely, it was wide and spacious, with all sorts of marble pillars holding it up, as well as staircases and pathways leading to different rooms. In the middle of it all was a sign that read ‘Veilstone Museum of Natural History and Pokemon Curiosities’, and below that, the skeleton of an Aerodactyl, which creeped me out at first. It was a bit unnerving looking at something that used to have eyes and a face, now reduced to bone. But I got used to it, and I was given enough time to adjust to my surroundings until our quad-armed tour guide cleared his throat.  


_"Alright, you_ _’re free to tell me where to go and whatever floats your Gogoat, but otherwise, the both of you need to stick with me. If anyone gets lost, it'll be my neck on the line too. Is that clear?"_  


We both nodded and facedd the main hall. My heart was pounding. There were a few humans, walking in and out, some who glanced at our direction. I’m not sure whether or not it was the Machamp talking, or the sight of us three, but it must’ve attracted some attention. I might’ve peed my pants if I had any to begin with. But Lexy must’ve seen the look on my face, so he leaned in and gently squeezed my paw.

“You’ll be fine; it’s a hella nice place. See anything you like and we’ll check it out, okay?”

I just nodded. At that point, I had learnt enough to hold my own in a conversation, but seeing how things were, I thought I’d soak in the atmosphere and get used to everybody’s auras before mustering up the confidence to talk. He started walking, and I followed after him into the first room, which had a lot of cool things like exhibits of small Pokemon skeletons, photos of different Pokemon in the wild, clips of them in their natural habitat projected on the walls, and the like. The skeleton in the hall gave me a taste for what was to come, so I was a little less nervous going into the rest. Still, I wouldn’t have blamed Lexy if he was a little concerned.

“To be honest, this part gives me the creeps. If you want, we can go some place else.”

“ _It’s good, that’s inside me!”_ I said, patting my chest. _“I’m all bone!”_

He chuckled, and we continued staring at dead bodies from there. Out of context, that’d probably sound weird, but oh well. We wandered around some more, navigating the different rooms, where we got to see how the earth was formed, big whoop, but while we walked, I kept thinking of why I was there in the first place, looking at things that probably would never come into play in my own life, or why people paid money to visit such a place.

Okay, they were all stupid questions, none of which I had answers to at the time, but think about it. They all added up to record some part of history, which was important to look back on, but of all the things I saw up until that point, pretty much all of it was written and achieved by humans or done by natural events. Pokemon affected the world in all sorts of weird ways, from sometimes causing earthquakes and tsunamis, but if anything, all that showed to me was that we were still dumb animals that didn’t know what we were doing. There was nothing about us making big decisions like running towns or regions of our own or coming up with war strategies or whatever.

What was the point of me, a Pokemon, coming to visit if I couldn’t make a mark myself? History was written by the winners, after all, and we never really won anything aside from battles started to settle disputes or to progress wars for other causes that weren’t our own. Not a lot of us could even write to begin with.

My first burst of confidence in that museum was seeing a vaguely spiked statue in one of the corridors. I recognised that shape immediately and tugged on Lexy’s shirt.

“Oh, you wanna see that? Sure, lead the way.”

I glanced at him, unsure of leading my human partner forward instead of it being the other way around, but I walked through the cold, smooth floor, until I was face to face with a bronze Lucario statue. They posed just like Trunks did whenever he charged up his aura, and gleamed in the lamplights above. At the bottom, there was a plaque, which Lexy read out to me.

“This is based off of the Tower of Mastery statue in Shalour City, Kalos, currently the world-record holder for the biggest Lucario statue at 100m high. The original statue was commissioned by Elite Four member Fabienne Durand in 1942, back in the long-done days when members of the Elite influenced the political sphere. Made in honour of his Lucario, who served under him for 43 years before sadly passing away. In order to preserve his loyal Pokemon’s memory, 120 different artists were hired to build the statue in a matter of 12 years, and the rest is history. To this day, the Tower of Mastery remains a popular tourist spot, as well as a source of inspiration for trainers and their Pokemon.”

I didn’t really pay that much attention to what he said, since I was just so entranced by the actual statue itself. I wanted to know how it was made, and how to make it. It seemed bigger and more tactile than drawing, and when I thought about how I would create it, the process seemed more satisfying than being confined to a flat surface. Of course, I knew jack all about sculpting, but if I was in a place where I could’ve learnt about it, why not own it?

Lexy must’ve noticed how my face glowed, so he knelt down and patted my shoulder.

“You like him, huh?” he said. “Seems like the sort of strong Pokemon you’d look up to.”

“ _Kinda! I wanna make that statue!”_

He seemed puzzled at first. The idea of a Pokemon learning to sculpt must’ve been new to him, but I didn’t know whether he was enthusiastic or sceptical. Judging by his aura, he seemed optimistic, but I wasn’t so sure.

“ _Can I make that?”_ I nervously rubbed my paws together. _“Can Pokemon make that?”_

“ _Sure you can, kiddo,”_ Henry said. He gave Lexy a gentle nudge with his elbow, which got him out of his stupor.

“Okay, it’s possible, I guess. Hold on, let me find something...” He paused and unfolded a pamphlet. “There’s one place upstairs that shows stuff like Pokemon Outsider Art. Huh, now this has got me curious, too. Curio. Curious? See what I did there?”

“ _Bad joke,”_ I said with a glare. _“Sounds cool, though. Can you take me?”_

He nodded and led the way up to an elevator. Once the double doors opened, Lexy navigated through the corridors with his map, until we entered a small room where the exhibit supposedly was. The space was cramped with many different oddments scattered about, but once I got used to it, I looked at each item with enthusiasm: An abstract painting with many different odd colours and strokes. A realistic painting of various Pokemon in a wild habitat. Odd curios made from different pieces of collected junk. And even a poem, which I can’t recall at the top of my head, but remembered how nicely it flowed and how it reminded me of Mom’s old stories.

All of them were made by Pokemon of different species and walks of life. Some were actually a bit old, but most were fairly recent. There was even a poster talking about the Smeargle Palette outside the Ruins of Alph, but I shouldn’t get sidetracked about that yet.

Point is, I took notice of everything there and it got me inspired. Even though it was a small selection, out of many yet to be discovered, I wanted to be a part of that world. If there was any way I could make my mark on history and be the kind of Pokemon that stood out from the crowd, I would make something that was worthy of being gawked at by random strangers. You could say I sold out already, and that I just wanted attention, but what else was there for me to do aside from serve a trainer for the rest of my life? From there, I had a goal, and I would do whatever it took to fulfil it.

Lexy stretched his arms. “I could do with some coffee. You wanna stop by for a break? I can treat you to some cocoa there.”

“ _Ah no,”_ Henry said, pulling out his own wallet. _“Don’t waste your money on her. Whatever she wants, we’ll pay from our own pockets. You’ll still pay up for yours though._ ”  
  
Money was still pretty alien to me, and admittedly, it was odd to see another Pokemon with a wallet, but whatever. It wasn’t completely farfetched from what we were taught, and Lexy shrugged it off. Anyway, we all sat at a cafe with everything ordered, and I guess there wasn’t too much to talk about the room itself except that a few Pokemon were already out with their own trainers, happily munching on whatever their trainers bought them or in their own corner of the room with climbing frames of their own, not unlike the GeL base. I almost leapt off the seat to join them when Henry firmly gripped my shoulder, stopping me.

“Sorry, kiddo,” he said, “We oughta keep talkin’ to outsiders at a minimum.”

I was still a bit sceptical about it, but again, the four armed monster had the final word over a scrawny token Riolu. For now, I just enjoyed their company while I helped myself to some of that smooth chocolaty bliss.

“So,” Lexy said, “I saw you liked that thing we just visited.”

“ _Yeah!”_ I said, wiping the chocolate flakes off my face, _“I wanna do what they did! I’ll have my stuff up there soon!”_

He smiled with an aura that felt genuine and not patronising. Then, a question whizzed past me, so I gulped down my cocoa and planted my paw on the table.

“ _What do you do?”_

He cocked his head. While my speech skills were good at the end of the first year, I still had some issues with expressing what I truly meant. I guess I was kind of like Fernes, in a way.

“ _Oh, I mean, you’re a student too! What do you do?”_

“Ah, I see. Well, at the moment, I’m in Veilstone University, which is kind of like a school, except bigger. Stop me if you want me to explain anything.”

I nodded.

“I’m studying for a doctorate in Pokemon Behavioural Studies--”

I raised my paw.

“ _Doctorate? Like you’re cutting Pokemon open? Don’t dissect me!”_

“Oh jeez, no! I’m not a doctor, I meant, doctorate. It’s like an advanced course where you get to work in whatever job you want to at the end of it. It’s really hard, but it’s also really rewarding. To be honest, I’ve wanted to do something like this for ages. The thing that director’s doing hasn’t really been done anywhere else. He’s got big dreams, you know, and he’s a great contact. Apparently, he—”

“ _Shut it,”_ Henry said, pointing at him with his protein bar. _“Remember, we can’t talk about it here.”_

I groaned, still a little frustrated that Henry was being so hush-hush about it, but still, no use arguing.

“Oh, right, sorry. Maybe later. Still, we’re working with lots of prestigious professionals. They’re making lots of good contributions to—”

“ _Don’t use big words!”_ I pulled away from him. _“You’re confusing me!”_

“Right, right, sorry.” He sighed and drummed his fingers on the table. “I kind of forget you’re a Pokemon sometimes. You’ve already got this conversation thing down pat, you know. You should be proud.”

“ _I am. It’s how Mama and Bro would’ve liked!”_

“Right.” He frowned, and swirled some sugar into his coffee. “Do you still miss them?”

I cocked my head. _“Sometimes. I think I have a new family now. That’s enough for me.”_

“Yeah, sounds good.” He frowned. “I get a lil’ homesick myself, you know. I like what I’m doing, but they’re back in Eterna, doing what they wanna do, while I’m probably the only guy from our clique who’s coming out here every day.”

“ _Have friends here?”_

“Hmm, I’ve made a few with the other students. We study together and all that. But it’s just not the same, y’know?”

I paused, digesting what he said. I pointed to myself.

“ _Am I a friend?”_

His eyes widened. “Well, yeah, I guess. I enjoy the time we spend together, after all.”

“ _So, you’re not alone!”_

Lexy scoffed, and stifled a laugh with his fist. He held my paw with the other hand, and I felt something spark inside of me. While my thoughts of humans had been a bit discoloured from Liam’s ramblings, that one seemed just fine. He listened to me and seemed to support me without being overbearing. That aura seemed friendly as well. I didn’t care whether or not it was instinct; something told me it was worth sticking with him, and possibly, be friends with him as well. Right there, a door opened within me.

That’s when white light flashed around me. Sort of like I was being put inside that Pokeball again, except not. My form grew and expanded in places I wouldn’t have expected. My tail grew in size. Spikes stuck out of my paws and chest. My head got bigger, as well as my aura sensors. None of it hurt, but it still felt weird, like my soul was being molded and sculpted to fit the image of some higher power. Once my sight returned to normal, I noticed I stood taller than Lexy. Just to confirm what happened, I also looked down at my paws, which were properly spiked this time.

I had grown. I had changed. I had evolved into a Lucario.

So, with that in mind, pop quiz. What do you think happens to a Lucario getting used to their powers in a room with lots of other people’s auras?

**(I can imagine it would be hard to adjust to.)**

Yup, a gold star for you. When I first felt it, lots of other people’s thoughts flooded into mine. This is just a sample of what was on the spiritual menu:

**Oh, that Riolu just evolved.**

**Damnit, where did my kids run off to?**

**How am I going to pay this month’s rent when I’ve lost three matches in a row?**

**Why did I decide to become a trainer?**

**I need to be strong for my team.**

**Why can’t my trainer listen to me?**

None of those thoughts were very delicious. They were all screaming for equal attention, and so, when it came flooding back to me, I didn’t know what the hell to do. I backed away, but my paws wobbled and I must’ve fell since that Machamp caught me in two of those chiselled arms of his.

“Alright, alright,” he said, rubbing my head with one of his other arms. Admittedly, that felt weird knowing someone petted me with a third hand, but at least it distracted me from the aural chaos in the room. “Congrats for evolving and all, but I knew this would’ve happened.Your mind’s all muddled, ain’t it?”

Not sure how to react, I just nodded.

“Thought so.” He gently lowered me to the floor and pulled the Pokeball out, much to my dismay. _“Sorry, but I’m gonna have to call it here.”_ He turned to the human. _“I think your schedule’s clear, so you’re free to go.”_

“Uh, right, but—” Lexy approached me with an aura of concern. Well, that set me off again. He had a lot of concerns really, but I’ll get to that later. “Can I help, or something?”

“ _Not unless you fancy a trip all the way back there.”_

“Well, maybe not. But I guess I can count this as an early day off.” Before he went, he crouched to my level and smiled. “If you wanna, you can come talk to me anytime, even outside the lessons if I’m around. How’s that sound?”

I distracted myself from everyone’s thoughts long enough to coax some sort of reply. _“Good.”_

“Alright, take it easy.” Hearing that from him again was kind of calming, but then he left, and I was on my own with the hulking mass. He helped me up again, I must mention, with those muscley arms, and held out the Pokeball within my reach.

“I don’t wanna force ya in here. Only when you’re ready.”

I took one final look at the rest of the museum, still unable to block out the thoughts of the humans and mon around me, and tapped the Pokeball.


	28. On The Inside Listening Out

After that incident, I emerged from that ball into the facility again, and Henry took my paw to lead me through the quarantine room to the halls, firmly, but gently. I looked to the other security staff, who were all thinking different things. One hoped their Glameow didn’t claw up the furniture. Another hoped they got back home in time to see their kids away from the facility. One just hoped they could treat themselves to a hot bath once they got to their apartment. So many different thoughts of strangers trickled in, I didn’t know what to do with them all. I wanted to talk with them proper to find out, but the Machamp led me back into the familiar, florally-painted corridors before I could stop to ask. Even more random thoughts from the mediators, both human and Pokemon. Oh, that’s a new look for her. Oh, what trouble has she gotten into now? Before I could process them, I was dropped into one of the tutorial rooms.

It had a round table with a few chairs around them, and there, Azzy, Lucy, and a T-shirt wearing Lucario sat at the front. While I had seen the Lucario in a few places, I never really got introduced to him, though I was always curious to get to know him. His features were different from what I expected, since they were quite jagged and scruffy even for our kind. While they all sat at appropriate heights, Azzy just stood on the table. All of their gazes were inviting, but their thoughts said otherwise, as if they were going through the motions of breaking another freshly-evolved mind reader in. Crap, I did it again. I didn’t even move until Henry tapped my back; I was that lost in my own head space.

“Please,” Lucy said, “sit down.”

They all nodded, and warily, I sat down on the hard metal chair, finally able to after being so small before. I guess it felt like a milestone in a way.

“So,” the Lucario said, grinning, “How’s it feel to be one o’ us? I know the answer, but go ahead.”

“Feels,” I started, then paused, bringing my paw to my face. “Scary. Who are you?”

The jagged Lucario stood proudly and did a playful little curtsy. “Rhode’s the name. Aura’s me game. Don’t wear it out.”

“Oh please,” Lucy said. “Save it until after the meeting to act like that.”

“A’ight, whatever.” He sat back down and straightened himself. I couldn’t help but read into his emotions again. His heart rose whenever Lucy spoke to him for whatever reason. I would’ve read further into it but he shot me a sly grin. “You’re doin’ it again.”

“Sorry!” I squealed. “I’m not used to it!”

“Nah, I’m just pullin’ yer leg. Seriously, though, you can read thoughts!” He waved his paws up. “Innit great?”

“No! Back there, it just felt too much, like I had no control over my own thoughts, and now, it still feels weird! That’s not my fault, is it?”

“O’ course not. Why d’you think I’m here then? To try an’ help you. From now on, I’ll be takin’ over that blue stuffed bunny as yer tutor, where aura’s concerned anyway.”

“I prefer Azumarill, thank you very much,” Azzy said, fiddling with the chalk in his paw, ready to fire. “Of course, Curio, you can come to me or Mack at any time if you need help with personal issues out of lessons.”

“And what about my focus?”

“All taken care of,” Rhode said. “Right, Lulu?”

“Don’t call me Lulu,” she said with a glare. “In any case, if you’re still fine with the idea of sculpting, from what Henry told us, then you’ll be taken into the soft-room with Rhode to try and sort out your mind-reading issues. You’ll be given a schedule in a week. Feel free to visit the library for anything on the topic. Preferably DVDs or manuals.”

I nodded, satisfied with my options. Before I could question anything else, Rhode rose from his seat and took my paw, leading me through the winding corridors past the other mediators. I tuned out their thoughts in favour of trying to read into his. I got a little scrap of info: something about Cartwright’s inability to walk in his old age, but his aura was surprisingly resistant, like he had been training it for ages.

“Hey, invasion o’ privacy,” he said.

“Sorry, sorry. I can’t help it. Please don’t be mad.”

“And why’s that? Your only crime is bein’ curious. Curio. Curious. You’re pro’ly gonna get that a lot, aren’t you?”

I nodded, thinking back to Lexy’s comment.

“Still, I ain’t gonna bust yer balls over somethin’ like that. I’m not like ‘em, after all. Think o’ me as the cool teacher.”

“Right.” Not that I had any balls, but still.

He took me into a room with all sorts of padded equipment: vaults, sponge mats, training dummies, and all the like. I had been in there a few times during one of Reggie’s classes, but not in this situation, and thankfully alone with my new Lucario tutor that time. He brought a rubber Hitmonlee to the middle of the room and patted its soft head.

“Now, the fun part o’ this exercise is ta just let your instincts run free. Which amounts to beatin’ the tar outta this thing with yer aura. Since it’s yer first time, I’ll walk it through ye, okay? Try enterin’ something you feel comf’table with.”

I remembered Trunks’ training and stood on one paw with one spiked hand raised to the dummy.

“Now, draw from yer own body, like so.” He brought his hands to his belly, and charged up a tiny blue sphere before it went poof. I did exactly the same, except it was much bigger, just about the size of a medicine ball.

“Fire!” Which I did. The sphere exploded against the dummy, flinging it to the other side of the room with a satisfying crash. A part of me felt at ease; beating up crap felt good every once in a while.

“Not bad! Now, that was a bit big, so much so I’d say you’re compensatin’ for something, but that’s a good first step.”

I nodded, feeling gratified I had my aura powers to fight with, at least. When I was a Riolu, it was about as scrawny as I was, so now I could’ve turned it into something useful at last, that was a bit of a relief. Still, the big aura thing was something I clearly had to iron out.

“Now, let’s try that a few more times.” He reached over to me and changed parts of my stance to something of his making, something that wasn’t as flashy as Trunks’ stance but something that could still be used in a fighting situation. Then, he told me to do a few more aura reps, and so, I kept shooting at the Hitmonlee. With each hit of those big aura spheres, it wobbled back and forth on a spring, but still stayed put, taking whatever punishment I doled out. After a while, I kind of felt sorry for the poor sod, but then realised how stupid it was to feel for a dummy, and just kept doing as Rhode said. With each rep, my body felt more and more drained, until I ran out of breath and had to sit by the side.

“Hmm,” Rhode said, “it’s really doing a number on ye, ain’t it?”

“Yeah--” I said in between gasps of air, “I dunno-- what to do.”

“Eh, you’ll figure it out. ‘ere, catch.”

Without warning, he threw a Leppa berry at me, but I caught it just before it hit my nose. That was lucky, since Leppas are hard. If I didn’t have my aura senses, I would’ve needed a rhinoplasty or something to fix my nose.

**(Or heal it at the Pokemon centre like you did with your arm.)**

Yeah, that too, but surgery sounds funnier. Anyway, I chomped down on it, and in time, I came back to speed again. Just to test it out, I threw another sphere at the dummy, but again, it was still large and drawing out more energy from my body than usual.

“Okay, okay, let’s try somethin’ different,” Rhode said, picking at his ears. “We’ve got plenty of time to work on that, but I guess you wanna know how to control yer aura ‘round others, don’t you?”

I remembered how I felt being in a crowded place, and I nodded.

“A’ight then.” He approached me and put his paw on my shoulder, grinning widely. “I wanna do a lil’ experiment.”

I thought back to what P.Z. said about the Mewtwo being born from an experiment and cringed. I didn’t even need to say anything for him to pick up on it.

“Don’t worry, not that kind of experiment. A social experiment. We won’t be locking ye in liquid pods or whatever.”

I crossed my arms. “Invasion of privacy,” I repeated.

“Yeah, and I’m yer teacher, so bite me.” He chuckled as he ruffled my spiky hair. “Just kiddin’. Now, come along, I got a surprise for ye.”

So, the surprise didn’t end up being a cake or anything like that, but a woman in her 20s, who had glasses and her hair pinned back, so you could tell she meant business. We met up in one of the study rooms where she stared at a stack of library books, until Rhode came along and tapped her back. She turned around, surprised at first by us two Lucario, until she adjusted her glasses and recognised the T-shirt wearing quack.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said. It surprised me at first that he seemed to be well-known with the humans, but that thought didn’t linger long as Rhode tapped my back in turn.

“ _Congrats, er, whatsyourface, you’ve been chosen for me raffle.”  
  
_“What raffle?”  
  
_“One I just made up, but anyway, ‘ere’s Curio! You might know ‘er from before as a Riolu, an’ now a freshly evolved Lucario.”_

I didn’t know what to say until he elbowed my shoulder. _“Um, hi.”_

The young woman stared back at Rhode. “Uh, is this going to take long? I need to start revising for one of the lectures.”

“ _Nah, it won’t. Just talk to ‘er for a bit and see what ‘appens.”_  
  
“Alright, fine.” She closed one of the books and looked back to me, putting on a fake smile even though her mind was somewhere else. “So, Curio? I don’t really know much about you, but I’ve seen you doodle in class a lot.”  


“ _With the blue rabbit?”_

“Yes, the language assistant.” She gave another false smile. “I bet you think of yourself as quite the artist, don’t you?”

She tried to sound sincere, but through her words and her aura, something about her was quite different. She was hiding a bit, and didn’t seem to say that because she was interested, like Lexy was, but only said it to tell me what I wanted to hear. So, I shrugged it off.

“ _Nah, not really. You’re just sayin_ _g_ _that. I know your aura.”_

She coughed and tried to change the subject. “Whatever. I’m just trying to find something to talk about, since he clearly wants me to. I honestly just want to get a move on with my assignment.

I glanced at him while he smirked, still trying to egg us on. In turn, I tried to find something of interest to her as well by zooming into her thoughts. Some of it wasn’t clear, as she still tried to hide herself through a mask of sincerity, but beyond the worries about classes and assignments, I saw, well, an actual face mask. There was a scene of her looking at a mirror in the shower, nervously tugging at the lip part on her face with something waxy. So seeing that, galaxy-brain me blurted this out:

“ _What wax do you use for your mustache?"_

She covered her mouth reflexively. It didn’t really sink in, but when it did, her face turned bright red, like her inner fire-type awakened itself. I heard snickering from behind as Rhode stifled himself with his paw. Then, I got the feeling I said something I shouldn’t have.

“ _Um, sorry,”_ I said, “ _did I—”_

“Excuse me,” the student said, wringing her hands around a thick book. “Maybe you two should get out, or else I’m telling Lucy you tried to distract me from my work.”

“ _Will do,”_ he replied with a wide smile, “a _n’ thanks for bein’ my lab Rattata.”_

“You’re such an ass, Rhode.”

So, Rhode grabbed my paw and led back into the hallway. I was speechless, and building up steam inside me. I didn’t know what I did wrong, but I clearly saw something there I shouldn’t have, and knew exactly who pushed me into it. Rhode just stood there with that shit-eating grin, trying his best not to burst into laughter. I couldn’t stand that, so I shoved him away.

“Woah-ho, steady there!” he said in that same mocking tone. “C’mon, you ‘ad to admit that was funny.”

“No it wasn’t!” I shouted, drawing the attention of some of the passing subjects. “She was upset, and you knew this whole time, all because of this stupid aura thing!”

“Well, okay.” He shrugged. “Maybe I went a bit too far. But what’s the takeaway from that?”

“Takeaway from what, looking like a _shithead_ in front of the humans?”

Rhode approached me again, and I was ready to fight him again, but instead, he tapped my forehead.

“Yer aura training. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out what this is for. So whaddo you think ‘appens when you look into other people’s thoughts without asking, or knowin’ what you’re getting into?”

I thought back to the things I saw in her mind and how she reacted when I brought up the truth. It clearly wasn’t meant for other people’s eyes, and yet, I did the exact thing I wouldn’t have wanted another Lucario to do: to read out my unwanted thoughts. So, I tugged on my aura sensors, which flopped behind my head instead of on the side as a Riolu.

“People would get mad. And I’d get mad.”

“Yeah, but you also ‘ave a choice over yer own aura. You can choose how big you want yer spheres to be, or how deep you want to go into someone’s filthy, smelly noggin. ‘specially with humans. The stuff they come up with is something else, though, ech, you were lucky with ‘er—” he elbowed me again, “but don’t put that past me if you ever read into my mind.”

“Yeah, I ain’t doing that.”

“There, you see?” He patted me on the back, giving a proud smile for once instead of a mirror-breaking one. “It’s about self control, y’know. And this year, you’ll ‘ave to make plenty more choices than what you’re used to, but that’s something great, innit?” He tugged at his own shirt. “I can choose to wear this thing, even though it ain’t the best for me kind, but I just wanna. It’s great to ‘ave something that says you’re you, right?”

“Like my drawings, or this thing.” I ran my paw through the tuft of fur at the top of my head.

“Yeah, somethin’ a lot of us Pokemon don’t have. But enough ramblin’.” He took my paw. “I guess I should treat you to somethin’. It’s the least I can do for embarrassin’ you out there, a’ight?”

I looked back to the study room, wanting to read into the aura of that student, but chose not to. I had control over my own powers after all. And for the first time since I came back, I managed to block out the thoughts of all the other students in the facility and just focused on my own. It was like opening a window and airing out a room of all its bad smells, though having said that, there weren’t really any windows in GeL; just vents. But anyway, despite everything, I saw Rhode in a new light as he led me through the facility. Though Trunks’ face was smoother, I imagined him as a brother, even though I had plenty of those. I wonder what it would’ve been liked if I had another sister as well.

**(She’d probably push you off a tree.)**

Yeah, guess I never had that sort of sibling rivalry. But anyway, Rhode led me to the staff room to talk over cookies and cocoa, and that was all great. Except, on the way there, we passed by a certain yellow devil, levitating a stack of door-stopping books behind his head. He sneered at my newly evolved form.

“Ah, I see you have changed,” Abraxas said. “Though still as puny as ever, I see.”

I looked to Rhode, who just stood on the sidelines while I was in the fray. I guess he wanted to see how I dealt with the Kadabra, though he still could’ve stepped in to help. I tried to get the edge over him by scanning his aura, but his psychic field blocked me from doing anything. So I just settled for the best comeback I could muster.

“And still as much of a _shithead_ as ever,” I said. Okay, not a bad try, but not exactly great either.

“Only fools resort to such vulgar human language.” He got closer to me, so much so, I felt his psychic field. I instinctively backed away, though he still tried to close in on me. “You and that stray mongrel, P.Z.”

“Leave him out of this,” I said, aura swirling from within me. “He’s cool.”

“Cool does not matter. You are either civil or a wildling.” He turned his nose up at me, looking even more smug. “And either way, you will still be a fool. Only fools go for the arts and not the refined sciences. Humans choose those subjects and end up working in cafes for the rest of their meagre lives. They are like you wildlings in a way, just wasting space.”

“W-well,” I stammered, trying to regain my footing, “I bet you don’t even have an artsy bone in your body. I’d rather have those than be a really boring _ass_ like you!”

“Oh-ho, boring? I beg to differ. I came her for an important purpose, so I can hardly say I’m boring. You, however, have no business being here. Run off to your own wild family. Oh, wait, you can’t!” He guffawed, bashing his fist on the floor while he kept his books in the air. “I—” He tried to say in between bursts of laughter, “I bet they’re dead already!”

**(Woah, low blow.)**

Yeah, right? God, what a complete douchenozzle! I should’ve been upset, but that just got me into the fighting spirit. I entered a battle stance, and Ab did the same, dropping his books. I might as well call him Ab since Abraxas’ getting a tad long, but whatever. Anyway, Rhode stepped between us, holding both his arms out for us to stop. “’ey! I ain’t ‘aving this ‘ere!”

“But-but--” I stuttered, trying to wrap my head around the situation. “He—”

“A’ight, just calm yer tatas, I’ll deal with this.”

I didn’t have any, of course, but that distracted me enough for me to get out of my battle position. So I watched the way Rhode approached Ab and to my surprise, he grabbed his arm, twisting it.

“Ah, ah!” Ab yelped in pain. Even though I still reeled from that verbal smack-down, I still got a kick out of watching him squirm.

“You got some balls talkin’ to her like that,” Rhode said. “You think you’re hot _shit,_ don’t ya?”

“T-teacher! You can’t—”

“Yeah, I know I ain’t allowed, and I don’t care. ‘sides, you try to use Psychic against me here and it’s a one way ticket back to whatever heap you came from.”  
  
“No, I won’t! I want to stay here!”

“Good.” He let go of Ab’s arm, which he nursed. “And about the wildling stuff, you came from the woods as well, didn’t you? You know what they say, those who live in glass ‘ouses—”

“I get your point!” Ab scrambled on the floor to pick up his books and teleported out of the hallways. I just stood there, at a loss for words again. When Rhode clapped his paws together and faced me, that snapped me out of it.

“Thanks, teach!” I said. “What’s his problem, anyway?”

“Well, he’s got a lot on his plate.” He winked at me. “But if he ever teases you with that wildling stuff again, just use the same ammunition I gave you here. He’ll be stuck like a Slaking bathin’ in molasses.”

After that, the rest of the week flew by without much trouble. Ab didn’t bother me for the most part, but he must’ve felt a little bit vengeful since he teleported some of my sketchbooks and stuff out of the wild base. It turned up somewhere else eventually so I didn’t think to butt in at that time. With that said, it was time for my focus sessions not long after.

**(So, what did these sessions entail?)**

Okay, so the focus days ran alongside the regular lessons. We still learnt the human tongue, maths, and other basic skills and trivia crap, but these were the most fun to me. So, this will be covering, like, weeks, maybe months worth of classes, but bear with me here.

So, Azzy took me to this room, which was small, had many tools either lying about or propped up on walls, as well as various odd materials like wires and bits of paper sticking out of the boxes. While he was there to accompany me, the oddest thing was that there were two humans there: one youngish girl who was probably in her 20s, like Lexy, and one older woman. They looked at us with surprise first, and then enthusiasm. The girl stood up, barefoot in dungarees for some reason, and went up to greet me.

“Oh, you’re the Lucario I’ll be working with?”

I looked to Azzy, who gave a faint nod, then back to her.

“ _Um, yeah?”_

“Great!” She held out her hand and smiled. “I’m Ellie! It’ll be nice to be friends with you!”

Before I shook it, I scanned her aura, since I still wasn’t used to human interaction on that level. Still, like Lexy, she seemed genuine, so I shook her hand in turn.

“Alright,” the woman said, gesturing to the chairs. “You two best get seated. I’ll run you through what we’re doing, first of all.”

The teacher introduced herself as a sculptor at Veilstone University, though her life story wasn’t really much to write home about. After that, she basically gave us an ice-breaking exercise where she gave us a huge wad of claw to play about with, in the hopes of moulding out each others faces. I pawed at the material. It felt weird with my grubby mitts, and obviously, it wasn’t natural for me to be using it at all. Ellie gave me a thumbs up though, seeing how nervous I was.

“It’ll be fine!”

I nodded. If I could’ve help a pencil just fine, I probably could’ve sculpted the same way as well. So I focused on pinning down Ellie’s features. They were soft, well rounded, and still looked sort of kiddy despite being a bit older. The face worked well for me in that regard. But then there was the hair, which looked messy, and some of it covered her eyes, so occasionally, she had to brush it away. It was hard for me to work with at first, but I knew how to break down a head into shapes after all that time I spent drawing. I got bored a lot and liked my own company, so that meant I learnt a lot just by doing it. I just starting kneading the clay like kneading a bit of dough into bread, if I even knew what that felt like.

Ellie didn’t seem to have much problem copying my head. She’d hold up two of her fingers to get some of my features down, like I would whenever I drew the other subjects, so I did the same with her. That helped round out some of the features a bit more. But there was one point where she asked something odd.

“Can you turn your head up for me a sec?”

I shrugged and did exactly that.

“So, I always thought Lucario had like a big jaw as well, but now, I see it’s just the nose that’s big. How odd!”

I tilted my head down and grunted.

“ _My nose is fine.”_

“Yeah, I know!” Ellie said, shaping a nose out of her own material. “But I think it makes you look cool! It’s different! Unique! Expressive!”

“ _All Lucario have this.”_

“But, hmm.” She chewed on a loose strand of hair. “I dunno. You seem different somehow, like with your green eyes! They’re sparking with life right now, like some kind of gem, or something!”

That, I felt a bit flattered by. I smiled.

“ _They’re mama’s. She had one green and one red eye.”_

“So, they’re your mom’s eyes? Wonderful!” She kept chewing on her hair. It bugged me for whatever reason, but whatever.

I shrugged and focused on making the model. Ellie hummed a tune to herself, loudly. I didn’t know whether I was annoyed or found her energy contagious. I worked faster and didn’t talk much after that, but once the teacher told us to stop, we presented our work to each other.

Ellie’s work was a bit rough, but she got the face, the nose and the ears right. The eyes, especially, looked alive even though it was made out of something inanimate. When I looked at mine, however, I felt a bit deflated. All of the features were lopsided, and the shapes were all wrong, despite how much work it took my paws to try and mould them that way. Reluctantly, I presented my work to everyone else.

“ _Um, how bad is it?”_ I asked.

“No, no, it’s not bad at all!” Ellie said. “For a Pokemon, it’s fantastic!”

I growled at her, making her flinch. Her aura didn’t seem malicious, so her heart was probably in the right place, but I knew I was being damned with faint praise.

“ _But for a human, it’s crap? That’s what you’re sayin’?”_

“No.” She touched her cheek, which flushed red. “That’s not what I meant.”

I sighed. I wasn’t going to get anywhere by dwelling on it, so I laid the clay face down.

“Right, then.” The teacher observed the two sculptures. “That’s what separates a human’s work from a Pokemon’s work. We can’t treat them as one of the same.”

“ _Why am I here, then?”_ I asked with a pang of anger. _“I came here to learn to be like you.”_

“Let me finish.” She held her hand up. “It’s unfair to expect you to create work like us immediately. Can you lend me your paws, please?”

I didn’t know whether she meant that figuratively or literally, though the literal one probably would’ve been really bloody, but I held them up, allowing her to massage it with her hands. It felt weird, like having a tiny Joltik crawl on them, yet that human touch always felt strangely comforting.

“Yes, these would be very hard to control. How did it feel when you first tried to model something with them?”

“ _Couldn’t get a grip,”_ I said. _“Didn’t feel like there was much I could do with them.”_

“I see.” She gently let go and went over to the whiteboard to write down a plan. “Right, then the first thing we’ll teach you is how to make the most out of your abilities. If you can hold a pencil, you can hold sculpting tools as well, as they will do a lot of the work for you. A large part of these will be learning to work within your limits, so you can eventually work like a human. Does that sound clear?”

I nodded. I didn’t know what her deal was, but she seemed to have a lot of experience with that sort of thing. I looked to Ellie, who chewed on a braid nervously.

“Sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have said that, really. I know the feeling when people are trying to avoid saying something bad about your work."

I grunted a reply. She held out her hand.

"I don't wanna start on a bad note, y'know. So, why don't we start over and work together from now on?"

It seemed genuine, and I didn't want to dwell on it any longer, so I returned the handshake.

But you get the gist of it. I got a handle on some of those tools in the first week, like clay knives and such, and learned how to mould basic shapes from there. The next month or so was just learning about all the different processes and the workflows and all that. I don't remember much of it now, to be honest, and good riddance, because it would probably be boring to you. But I knew I cherished those sessions, since they only came once a week, and would look forward to the next one.

So, over time, I got more used to talking to humans. Sure, I could already speak their language pretty decently, but I was also getting used to what their world was like and how I fit into the picture. So, that Ellie girl. This one time, during break, I had lunch in the cafeteria along with the rest of my group. It was pretty much a melting pot of all the most sociable subjects coming together, with most of my team hanging out with the domestic base, but with a few outcasts. Ab, M and that Gastly were all on their own. M was the only one I didn't exactly want to leave out, so I thought about talking to him again, but that changed when the conversation on our own table picked up.

"So," Floatsam said, excitedly banging his paw on the table, "we did this obstacle course thingy and we were all supposed to put out this fake fire, yeah, but I couldn't make it in time and the dummy ended up dying in the end, but it was really cool other than that, and--"

"Yo," Hans said, patting his back with his tail. "You're goin' too fast. Did you drink some of the human coffee again?"

"Bleh." The Floatzel stuck their tongue out. "Too bitter! Why would I do that?”

"Never mind." He shrugged and looked over to me. "So, create any masterpieces, lately?"

"Nope," I said, stabbing some of my food. "Still got a long way's to go."

"I bet you'll come out on top." He glanced to the Ponyta. "Hey, Ferny! Whatcha doin'?"

"History. We're reading about people killing each other. It's really interesting."

"Right." He grimaced and turned away. "Forget I asked."

"What people?" I asked, out of impulse.

"Sorry, I mean, we're reading about wars. I should've mentioned there's a lot more to it than just death."

"Try starting with that instead of the 'killing each other' thing next time," Hans said.

"I'm working on that," she said, blowing smoke out her nostrils.

“U-um,” Shine said, struggling to get a word in, “what s-s-sort of war?”

“The Razzberry War was the last one. I’ll tell you more about it later, if you wish.”

Shine nodded. “I-It’d be v-very interesting to know about.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ellie putting down her tray on one of the human tables, still not wearing shoes. She got a lot of weird looks for doing that, and from myself as well. I would’ve ignored her had it not been for Lexy, who sat opposite her. So, there they were: two of the humans I connected with the most. Since it had been a while since I talked to Lexy, I wanted to see what Ellie was up to. So I stood up.

“Hey,” Hans said, “Where’re you going?”

I looked towards the humans and winked at Hans.

“Um, okay.” He grinned. “Guess you found a new boyfriend over there with that spiky-haired guy.”

“What, no!” I said, trying to shake the mental image out of my head. “That’s gross!” I quickly took my tray and walked towards the two humans, not wanting any more of Hans’ Taurcrap. They looked at me, surprised. _“Can I join?”_

They cast glances at one another before shrugging.

“Of course,” Lexy said. “Don’t see why not.”

I sat next to Ellie. I tried to get a peek into Lexy’s aura, then I thought about that last encounter with the other student and stopped. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice.

“So, I know we might’ve talked about this before, but how’re you doing with your aura and stuff?”

“ _Better,”_ I said with a smile. _“Rhode helps me if I dunno how to use it properly.”_

“Oh yeah,” he said, stabbing his salad, “that Lucario. He seems pretty cool, though some people don’t seem to like him.”

I thought of plenty of reasons why from the perspective of that human, but decided to press further. _“What does he do?”_

“Well, to be honest, I dunno.” He took a mouthful of some lettuce and crunched down. “Heth a mythery. Juth hangth around.”

I couldn’t 100% tell what he said, but I got the gist of it and poked at the Magikarp fillet. The conversation went at a standstill from there, while I just ate my fill on some fish. Weirdly with Pokemon, I knew what to talk about next, but with another human, whose world was different from mine, I didn’t know what to say. Then I got the urge to peek into his aura again, but this time, I acted on it while still keeping an eye out for any sudden thoughts. I sifted through the immediate ones, like ‘I wanna know more about Ellie’, then got to the deeper ones, like what he did in his home at Veilstone, and then how his old friends kept calling him to reform their band. That was news to me. I knew he played the guitar, and sometimes, he’d bring that in to play at the bonding sessions in the first year, but I didn’t know he was on that level.

“ _Sorry,”_ I said, pre-emptively, _“but do you have a band?”_

Lexy dropped his forkful of tomatoes, raising an eyebrow. “I wanted that to be a secret.”

“Wait, what?” Ellie said, smiling. “No way, that’s awesome!”

“Well...” He nervously took a sip from his water. “Look, it’s not supposed to be this big thing. I don’t wanna blab about it to anyone ‘til we get it off the ground again.”

“ _Why not?”_ I asked, dumbfounded.

“Because it was supposed to be our thing, our pet project.” His tone was a bit more severe, though he stopped himself before he could show it in his face. “Sorry. I just think if I say it’s official before it’s even started, that’ll ruin the whole idea, if that makes sense. It’s hard to put into words.”

It didn’t to me, but I could tell I dug up something he didn’t want bringing to the table, even if it was innocent. So I slumped in my seat, unsure of what to say.

“Besides, I dunno if we’ll do it for real. Since this whole GeL thing, everything’s taken a back-seat to actually rehearsing and all that. I’m still getting into the flow of when my off-days are.”

“Aw,” Ellie said. “Shame. It’s great you’re doing that on the side, though. What do you play?”

“Guitar.” He stabbed at his own salad and took a mouthful. “Though at least I get to practise when I’m in with Curio, since she likes that.”

I opened my mouth to try and speak up, but Ellie spoke before I had the chance to.

“Awesome!” She patted the table. “Ooh, it’d be nice to catch you doing that here! I dunno how often you’re in the facility.”

“Every other day, so quite often. I’m doing the scholarship here, after all. Yourself?”

You get the idea. They talked about their availability, what they were doing at Veilstone, and what they were doing on the side as well. I think Ellie mentioned she worked part time at a cafe, but that went over my head. To me, that was a whole lot of human-related business, which I was cut out of for the most part. Even though I went to join in, any time I tried to speak, I’d usually be cut off, so I was the one playing third wheel in the end. Since my aura kind of flopped, I didn’t want to use it to my advantage either. So I took my tray and went back to my own table, finishing off my lunch before the next session.

There was a certain longing in my heart for something. I had my Pokemon friends around me, sure, and talking with them was fine, but I felt completely out of my element when it meant talking on an equal level with humans. I wanted to get closer to them, but didn’t know how. Throughout the next half of the focus session, when it came to making more clay models, I felt even more dis-attached from Ellie. She seemed confident, and yet, completely in her own world, but there I was: a Pokemon in a human’s world. I just went through the motions of that session before I rested in the wild base. I didn’t really want to talk about anyone else about it, since they’d probably find the human thing weird. It wasn’t like I wanted to be guided by them; I wanted to be like them as well. But I kept trying, anyway, just to try and get on their level.

I met Lexy a few times after that with the usual sessions, apologised about reading his aura, and we seemed to get along just fine after that. So, another month passed. The human students were eating dinner for the last time before, as far as I knew, taking the private bus back to their own place. I never saw GeL from the outside, so I didn’t know how that figured into anything.

But anyway, Lexy and Ellie were there again, and in that one month gap, I noticed a change in their auras. Ellie’s was always bold and outgoing, while Lexy was a bit more guarded, but since then, he had opened his heart more. I heard more positive thoughts, such as ‘when will I see her again?’, and that felt more welcoming than the mask he put on. Once again, I took my tray over to their space, where they waved at me that time.

“Hey, Curio!” Ellie said. “Nice to see ya again!”

I smiled as I sat next to them. She looked at Lexy, who poked around his plate, and brushed past his leg with her bare feet.

“Hey, what’re you—”

“Ahem.”

She winked at him, and finally, he took the hint and looked over to me.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Ellie says you have a tough time getting involved mid convo.”

“ _Fine,”_ I said, crossing my arms. _“What are you doing?”_

“Just having dinner before I head home.” He yawned. “Can’t be bothered to cook, since it’s like two hours away there.”

“Ditto,” Ellie said, twirling her spaghetti. “We’re gonna go together though, aren’t we?”

She brushed past his leg again.

“That feels really weird,” he said, pulling himself back. “But yeah, we’re just chilling at my flat, since she’s close by.”

“ _Oh?”_ I said, cocking my head. _“What’s a flat?”_

“Um, like an apartment: a small place you get to live in with others.”

“ _Just like here?”_

“Yeah, you could say that.”

The conversation ended from there. I sat back, poking at the rest of my food while they ate theirs. That flat sounded interesting, but I didn’t know how I’d find out what it was like for myself. I couldn’t have just snuck out of the facility at any time and went to some random guy’s place, could I? But it was worth a try.

“ _Hey,”_ I asked, drawing their attention, _“can I come with?”_

Lexy almost choked on his cutlet mid-bite, but managed to pull himself together. “W-why?”

“ _Dunno. Wanna see what you guys get up to. I only see you in the facility.”_

“Right, I get that.” He tensed up his shoulders. “But you know you can’t just jump into it like that; they probably wanna keep a close eye on what you’re doing.”

“ _Yeah, I know. But I really wanna hang with you guys. I…”_ I trailed off, getting a bit flustered at what I was about to say. _“Just wanna feel like a human, y’know.”_

Lexy sighed and dug into his cutlet again. I could tell he was thinking about something, but I didn’t know what, so I honed in my aura. He thought: ‘Well, this is awkward. I just wanted to be alone with Ellie. I don’t really want a Pokemon to be involved.’ Right then, I kind of wish I hadn’t read into it. I was about to say something when I looked to the girl, who smiled. If he wanted to hook up with her, then me parroting his thoughts over to Ellie wouldn’t have done him any favours. As much as I wanted to be with them, I didn’t just want to be a burden either.

“ _Forget it,”_ I said, about to take my tray to my base’s table. _“Just a stupid idea.”_

“Hey, wait--” Lexy started, but I wasn’t having any of it. From there, I just wanted to be back with my own kind and not have to worry about the same things humans did. The Ambipom was the only one there, as everyone else had finished up. Hans snickered from across the table, with berry juice all over his face.

“Aw, that fling didn’t last long, did he?”

For that, I threw the last of my fillet at his head. “Shut up, fish face.”

“Hehe, thanks for the free food.” He happily munched on the Magikarp scrap. “Still, you’re spendin’ a lot of time with ‘em.”

“Well, duh.” I rubbed my paws over my face, sighing. “I dunno. They think a bit too fast for me.”

“Yeah, same. I ain’t really used to talkin’ to humans. Training might make things easier, I dunno.”

I felt a bit disheartened that he’d chosen training out of all the other choices, but I didn’t think to judge. I mostly just stewed in my own self pity from there and watched the two humans leave, running out of the cafeteria for the last bus. Seeing them go made my heart sink, but I just reminded myself that it was probably for the best. I didn’t want to drag them down.

What brought me back to reality was Bolt, the Manectric tutor, entering the room. It was just him, at first, looking stern as ever. Then Shine joined him, bloody, bruised and in tears.


End file.
